Search for Cosmic Strings in CMB Anisotropies

Abstract

We have searched the 1st-year WMAP W-Band CMB anisotropy map for evidence of cosmic strings. We have set a limit of $\delta =8\pi G\mu /c^2<8.2\times 10^{-6}$ at 95% CL for statistical search for a significant number of strings in the map. We also have set a limit using the uniform distribution of strings model in the WMAP data with $\delta =8\pi G\mu /c^2<7.34\times 10^{-5}$ at 95% CL. And the pattern search technique we developed here set a limit $\delta =8\pi G\mu /c^2<1.54\times 10^{-5}$ at 95% CL.

10 pages, 8 postscript figures