Constraints on the gravity-wave background generated by cosmic strings

Journal Article · Mon Apr 15 04:00:00 EDT 1991 · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.43.2733· OSTI ID:5468787

Bennett, D P ^[1]; Bouchet, F R ^[2]

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1. Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550 (US) Center for Particle Astrophysics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
2. Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, 98 bis Boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris, France Centre de Physique Theorique, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, (France)

We investigate the limits that can be placed on a cosmic-string-generated stochastic gravity-wave background by timing of the millisecond pulsar and by primordial nucleosynthesis. These limits on the gravity-wave background are used to generate limits on the mass per unit length of the cosmic string, {mu}. The limit due to the millisecond-pulsar constraint is {mu}{lt}4{times}10{sup {minus}5}{ital c2}/{ital G} while the nucleosynthesis limit ranges from {mu}{lt}6{times}10{sup {minus}6}{ital c2}/{ital G} to {mu}{lt}2{times}10{sup {minus}5}{ital c2}/{ital G} depending on the history of the Universe at temperatures above 1 TeV and the details of the QCD phase transition. These limits are significantly weaker than the best limit obtained from observations of the microwave background ({mu}{lt}5{times}10{sup {minus}6}{ital c2}/{ital G}) and are well above the value of {mu} that seems to be favored by the string-seeded galaxy-formation scenario.

• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5468787
• Journal Information: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (USA), Journal Name: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (USA) Vol. 43:8; ISSN PRVDA; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640106* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Cosmology
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BACKGROUND RADIATION
COSMIC RADIO SOURCES
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ENERGY DENSITY
FIELD THEORIES
GALAXIES
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
HUBBLE EFFECT
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATHEMATICS
MICROWAVE RADIATION
NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PULSARS
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
RADIATIONS
SYNTHESIS
TOPOLOGY
UNIVERSE