DESY Theory Seminar

Constraints on cosmic strings from gravitational waves, diffuse gamma-ray background and dark matter

by Pierre Auclair (APC Paris)

Europe/Berlin
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Description
Cosmic strings are stable topological defect solutions of field theories which may have formed during phase transitions in the early Universe. The detection or non-detection of these relics can constrain the physics of very high energies and extensions of the Standard Model. Under the Nambu-Goto approximation, which assumes that cosmic strings are one-dimensional, cosmic strings emit only gravitational waves which we can hope to detect in GW detectors in the near future. In this seminar, I will give a short introduction to cosmic strings before reviewing the current bounds on the string tension $G\mu$ coming from ongoing and future GW detectors, both from the stochastic background and burst events. Then I propose to go beyond the Nambu-Goto approximation, including the emission of massive particles and the dynamics of superconducting strings. I present the consequences of these effects on the observational signatures of cosmic strings, in particular on the gravitational wave stochastic background, gamma-ray background and dark matter abundance.