Title: Decay of Cosmic String Loops due to Particle Radiation

Abstract

Constraints on the tension and the abundance of cosmic strings depend crucially on the rate at which they decay into particles and gravitational radiation. We study the decay of cosmic string loops in the Abelian-Higgs model by performing field theory simulations of loop formation and evolution. We find that our set of string loops emits particle radiation primarily due to kink collisions, and that the decay time due to these losses is proportional to $L^p$ with $p≈2$ where $$L$$ is the loop length. In contrast, the decay time to gravitational radiation scales in proportion to $$L$$, and we show that particle emission is the primary energy loss mechanism for loops smaller than a critical length scale, while gravitational losses dominate for larger loops.

Authors:

Matsunami, Daiju; Pogosian, Levon; Saurabh, Ayush; Vachaspati, Tanmay

Publication Date:

2019-05-20

Research Org.:

Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)

OSTI Identifier:

1514732

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1594984

Grant/Contract Number:  

SC0019470

Resource Type:

Published Article

Journal Name:

Physical Review Letters

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Volume: 122 Journal Issue: 20; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007

Publisher:

American Physical Society

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; Cosmic strings & domain walls; Field & string theory models & techniques; Gravitational waves; Gravitation; Cosmology & Astrophysics; Particles & Fields