Wave diffraction by a cosmic string

Abstract

We show that if a cosmic string exists, it may be identified through characteristic diffraction pattern in the energy spectrum of the observed signal. In particular, if the string is on the line of sight, the wave field is shown to fit the Cornu spiral. We suggest a simple procedure, based on Keller's geometrical theory of diffraction, which allows to explain wave effects in conical spacetime of a cosmic string in terms of interference of four characteristic rays. Our results are supposed to be valid for scalar massless waves, including gravitational waves, electromagnetic waves, or even sound in case of condensed matter systems with analogous topological defects.

5 pages, 6 figures; free access to journal version until September 20, 2016 at http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1TTdX1LUy9BfYg

References in corpus (2)

• Ray trajectories for a spinning cosmic string and a manifestation of self-cloaking
• Exact Wave Propagation in a Spacetime with a Cosmic String

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• Dirac equation on a square waveguide lattice with site-dependent coupling strengths and the gravitational Aharonov-Bohm effect
• Probing cosmic strings via gravitational-wave lensing
• Parameter inference of millilensed gravitational waves using neural spline flows