The 21 cm Signature of Cosmic String Wakes

Abstract

We discuss the signature of a cosmic string wake in 21cm redshift surveys. Since 21cm surveys probe higher redshifts than optical large-scale structure surveys, the signatures of cosmic strings are more manifest in 21cm maps than they are in optical galaxy surveys. We find that, provided the tension of the cosmic string exceeds a critical value (which depends on both the redshift when the string wake is created and the redshift of observation), a cosmic string wake will generate an emission signal with a brightness temperature which approaches a limiting value which at a redshift of $z+1=30$ is close to 400 mK in the limit of large string tension. The signal will have a specific signature in position space: the excess 21cm radiation will be confined to a wedge-shaped region whose tip corresponds to the position of the string, whose planar dimensions are set by the planar dimensions of the string wake, and whose thickness (in redshift direction) depends on the string tension. For wakes created at $z_i+1=10^3$, then at a redshift of $z+1=30$ the critical value of the string tension $\mu$ is $G\mu =6\times 10^{-7}$, and it decreases linearly with redshift (for wakes created at the time of equal matter and radiation, the critical value is a factor of two lower at the same redshift). For smaller tensions, cosmic strings lead to an observable absorption signal with the same wedge geometry.

11 pages, 4 figures; a couple of comments added in the discussion section

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• Constraints on Superconducting Cosmic Strings from Early Reionization
• Dynamical behavior of the $C$-metric: charged scalar fields, quasinormal modes and superradiance
• Level Crossing Analysis of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation: A method for detecting cosmic strings
• Physics Beyond The Standard Model with Circular Polarization in the CMB and CMB-21cm Cross-Correlation
• Extracting the Signal of Cosmic String Wakes from 21-cm Observations
• Cosmic Strings and the Origin of Globular Clusters
• Evolution of magnetic fields in cosmic string wakes
• Gravitational waves from cosmic strings for pedestrians
• Signal of Cosmic Strings in Cross-Correlation of 21-cm Redshift and CMB Polarization Maps
• The Flow Around a Cosmic String, Part I: Hydrodynamic Solution
• Investigating cosmic strings using large-volume hydrodynamical simulations in the context of JWST's massive UV-bright galaxies
• Magnetic reconnection in the wakes of cosmic strings
• The Global 21 cm Signal of a Network of Cosmic String Wakes
• Global 21cm Absorption Signal from Superconducting Cosmic Strings
• Cosmic Strings-induced CMB anisotropies in light of Weighted Morphology
• Magnetic field amplification and decay in cosmic string wakes