Related papers: Did BICEP2 see vector modes? First B-mode constrai…
In a recent publication, we used the data from WMAP and SDSS to constrain the primordial perturbations and to predict the B-mode polarization sourced by cosmic string networks. We have been alerted by A. Slosar to the existence of errors in…
Cosmic strings generate vector and tensor modes in the B-channel of polarization, as well as the usual temperature power spectrum and E-mode polarization spectrum. We use the power spectrum obtained from high-resolution Nambu-Goto cosmic…
In this work we discuss the possibility of cosmic defects being responsible for the B-mode signal measured by the BICEP2 collaboration. We also allow for the presence of other cosmological sources of B-modes such as inflationary…
Detecting the parity-odd, or B-mode, polarization pattern in the cosmic microwave background radiation due to primordial gravity waves is considered to be the final observational key to confirming the inflationary paradigm. The search for…
We show that the B-mode polarization signal detected at low multipoles by BICEP2 cannot be entirely due to topological defects. This would be incompatible with the high-multipole B-mode polarization data and also with existing temperature…
The network of cosmic strings generated in a phase transition during inflation enters the scaling regime later than that of usual strings. If it occurs after the recombination, temperature anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background…
We show that self-ordering scalar fields (SOSF), i.e. non-topological cosmic defects arising after a global phase transition, cannot explain the B-mode signal recently announced by BICEP2. We compute the full $C_\ell^{B}$ angular power…
The B-mode polarization spectrum of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) may be the smoking gun of not only the primordial tensor mode but also of the primordial vector mode. If there exist nonzero vector-mode metric perturbations in the…
Extending the Kaiser-Stebbins mechanism we propose here a method for detecting relics of topological defects such as cosmic strings based on lens-induced small-scale B-type polarization in the CMB. Models of inflation, in which large scale…
String models can produce successful inflationary scenarios in the context of brane collisions and in many of these models cosmic strings may also be produced. In scenarios such as KKLMMT the string contribution is naturally predicted to be…
Cosmic string wakes produce direct B-mode polarization at leading order in cosmological perturbation theory, as worked out in a previous publication \cite{BDH} in the case of a single string wake. Here we compute the angular power spectrum…
We study the observational signature of vector metric perturbations through the effect of weak gravitational lensing. In the presence of vector perturbations, the non-vanishing signals for B-mode cosmic shear and curl-mode deflection angle,…
Recently, BICEP2 measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) $B$-mode polarization has indicated the presence of primordial gravitational waves at degree angular scales, inferring the tensor-to-scalar ratio of $r=0.2$ and a…
We study signatures of cosmic superstring networks containing strings of multiple tensions and Y-junctions, on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarisation spectra. Focusing on the crucial role of the string coupling…
The measurement of B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background at large angular scales by the BICEP experiment suggests a stochastic gravitational wave background from early-universe inflation with a surprisingly large amplitude.…
The detection of B-modes in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization by the BICEP2 experiment, if interpreted as evidence for a primordial gravitational wave background, has enormous ramifications for cosmology and physics. It is…
The most convincing confirmation that the B-mode polarization signal detected at degree scales by BICEP2 is due to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) would be the measurement of its large-scale counterpart. We assess the requirements for…
The BICEP-2 team has reported the detection of primordial cosmic microwave background B-mode polarization, with hints of a suppression of power at large angular scales relative to smaller scales. Provided that the B-mode polarization is due…
We present a new and especially powerful signature of cosmic strings and other topological or non-topological defects in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We show that even if defects contribute 1% or less in the…
While observations indicate that the predominant source of cosmic inhomogeneities are adiabatic perturbations, there are a variety of candidates to provide auxiliary trace effects, including inflation-generated primordial tensors and cosmic…