Related papers: Do Cosmic String Segments Emit Gravitational Waves…
Cosmic strings can arise in hidden sector models with a spontaneously broken Abelian symmetry group. We have studied the couplings of the Standard Model fields to these so-called dark strings in the companion paper. Here we survey the…
Cosmic strings are linear concentrations of energy that form whenever phase transitions in the early universe break axial symmetries as originally shown by Kibble. They are the result of frustrated order in the quantum fields responsible…
Understanding of the signatures of cosmic string networks is limited by a large uncertainty in the sizes at which cosmic string loops form. We review cosmic string network evolution, and the gravitational signatures, with emphasis on this…
We perform a phenomenological comparison of the gravitational wave (GW) spectrum expected from cosmic gauge string networks and superstring networks comprised of multiple string types. We show how violations of scaling behavior and the…
Photons can gravitationally scatter off a cosmic string loop and gain or lose energy. We consider the spectral distortion induced by cosmic string loops placed in an ambient thermal bath of photons. The fractional deviation from a thermal…
Using recent simulation results, we provide the mass and speed spectrum of cosmic string loops. This is the quantity of primary interest for many phenomenological signatures of cosmic strings, and it can be accurately predicted using…
We investigate a generic source of stochastic gravitational wave background due to the parametric resonance of oscillating scalar fields in the early Universe. By systematically analyzing benchmark models through lattice simulations and…
Metastable cosmic strings (MSCSs) are among the best-fitting explanations of the 2023 pulsar timing array (PTA) signal for gravitational waves at nanohertz frequencies. We propose the novel possibility that a network of MSCSs generating…
We consider gravitational waves from a pair of monopoles or black holes that are moving non-relativistically and are connected by a cosmic string. Shortly after the binary's formation, the connecting string straightens due the direct…
We consider an alternative approach for the computation of the stochastic gravitational wave background generated by small loops produced throughout the cosmological evolution of cosmic string networks and use it to derive an analytical…
We investigate the constraints that can be placed on the cosmic string tension by using the current Pulsar Timing Array limits on the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB). We have developed a code to compute the spectrum of…
An implicit, fully characteristic, numerical scheme for solving the field equations of a cosmic string coupled to gravity is described. The inclusion of null infinity as part of the numerical grid allows us to apply suitable boundary…
Gravitational waves (GW) are a powerful probe of the earliest moments in the Universe, enabling us to test fundamental interactions at energy scales beyond the reach of laboratory experiments. In this work, we assess the GW capability to…
The cosmic string theory for cosmological fluctuations is a good example of healthy scientific progress in cosmology. It is a well defined physically motivated model that has been tested by cosmological observations and has been ruled out…
Composite topological structures such as superheavy "quasi-stable strings" (QSS) and "walls bounded by strings" (WBS) arise in realistic extensions of the Standard Model of high energy physics. We show that the gravitational radiation…
If the Universe underwent a cosmic phase transition, it may have left behind a network of cosmic strings. When these strings arise from the breaking of a gauge symmetry, their decay produces a significant stochastic background of…
The next generation of gravitational wave detectors holds out the prospect of detecting a stochastic gravitational background generated in the very early universe. In this article, we review the various cosmological processes which can lead…
Metastable strings can arise from a two-step symmetry breaking chain of the type $SU(2) \to U(1) \to 1$.They can decay through quantum tunneling by nucleating a monopole-antimonopole pair, and are prominent candidates for explaining the…
Cosmic strings are linear concentrations of energy that may be formed at phase transitions in the very early universe. At one time they were thought to provide a possible origin for the density inhomogeneities from which galaxies eventually…
Gravitational wave observations provide unique opportunities to search for cosmic strings. One of the strongest sources of gravitational waves is discontinuities of cosmic strings, called kinks, which are generated at points of…