No Arabic abstract
We study the network of Type-I cosmic strings using the field-theoretic numerical simulations in the Abelian-Higgs model. For Type-I strings, the gauge field plays an important role, and thus we find that the correlation length of the strings is strongly dependent upon the parameter beta, the ratio between the self-coupling constant of the scalar field and the gauge coupling constant, namely, beta=lambda/2e^2. In particular, if we take the cosmic expansion into account, the network becomes densest in the comoving box for a specific value of beta for beta<1.
In this paper we present the results of numerical simulations intended to study the behavior of non-Abelian cosmic strings networks. In particular we are interested in discussing the variations in the asymptotic behavior of the system as we variate the number of generators for the topological defects. A simple model which should generate cosmic strings is presented and its lattice discretization is discussed. The evolution of the generated cosmic string networks is then studied for different values for the number of generators for the topological defects. Scaling solution appears to be approached in most cases and we present an argument to justify the lack of scaling for the residual cases.
Recent work by Jenkins and Sakellariadou claims that cusps on cosmic strings lead to black hole production. To derive this conclusion they use the hoop conjecture in the rest frame of the string loop, rather than in the rest frame of the proposed black hole. Most of the energy they include is the bulk motion of the string near the cusp. We redo the analysis taking this into account and find that cusps on cosmic strings with realistic energy scale do not produce black holes, unless the cusp parameters are extremely fine-tuned.
We determine the distribution of cosmic string loops directly from simulations, rather than determining the loop production function and inferring the loop distribution from that. For a wide range of loop lengths, the results agree well with a power law exponent -2.5 in the radiation era and -2 in the matter era, the universal result for any loop production function that does not diverge at small scales. Our results extend those of Ringeval, Sakellariadou, and Bouchet: we are able to run for 15 times longer in conformal time and simulate a volume 300-2400 times larger. At the times they reached, our simulation is in general agreement with the more negative exponents they found, -2.6 and -2.4. However, our simulations show that this was a transient regime; at later times the exponents decline to the values above. This provides further evidence against models with a rapid divergence of the loop density at small scales, such as ``model 3 used to analyze LIGO data and predict LISA sensitivity.
We consider the femto-lensing due to a cosmic string. If a cosmic string with the deficit angle $Deltasim 100$ [femto-arcsec] $sim10^{-18}$ [rad] exists around the line of sight to a gamma-ray burst, we may observe characteristic interference patterns caused by gravitational lensing in the energy spectrum of the gamma-ray burst. This femto-lensing event was first proposed as a tool to probe small mass primordial black holes. In this paper, we propose use of the femto-lensing to probe cosmic strings with extremely small tension. Observability conditions and the event rate are discussed. Differences between the cases of a point mass and a cosmic string are presented.
A network of cosmic strings would lead to gravitational waves which may be detected by pulsar timing or future interferometers. The details of the gravitational wave signal depend on the distribution of cosmic string loops, which are produced by intercommutations from the scaling network of long strings. We analyze the limits imposed by energy conservation, i.e., by the fact that the total amount of string flowing into loops cannot exceed the amount leaving the long strings. We show that some recent suggestions for the cosmic string loop production rate and distribution are ruled out by these limits. As a result, gravitational waves based on such suggestions, in particular model 3 used in LIGO data analysis, are not to be expected.