CMB power spectrum contribution from cosmic strings using field-evolution simulations of the Abelian Higgs model

Abstract

We present the first field-theoretic calculations of the contribution made by cosmic strings to the temperature power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Unlike previous work, in which strings were modeled as idealized one-dimensional objects, we evolve the simplest example of an underlying field theory containing local U(1) strings, the Abelian Higgs model. Limitations imposed by finite computational volumes are overcome using the scaling property of string networks and a further extrapolation related to the lessening of the string width in comoving coordinates. The strings and their decay products, which are automatically included in the field theory approach, source metric perturbations via their energy-momentum tensor, the unequal-time correlation functions of which are used as input into the CMB calculation phase. These calculations involve the use of a modified version of CMBEASY, with results provided over the full range of relevant scales. We find that the string tension $\mu$ required to normalize to the WMAP 3-year data at multipole $\ell =10$ is $G\mu =[2.04\pm 0.06\text{(stat.)}\pm 0.12\text{(sys.)}]\times 10^{-6}$, where we have quoted statistical and systematic errors separately, and $G$ is Newton's constant. This is a factor 2-3 higher than values in current circulation.

23 pages, 14 figures; further optimized figures for 1Mb size limit, appendix added before submission to journal, matches accepted version

Cited by in corpus (27)

• Stationary ring solitons in field theory - knots and vortons
• Fitting CMB data with cosmic strings and inflation
• Constraints on Supersymmetric Models of Hybrid Inflation
• Small-Angle CMB Temperature Anisotropies Induced by Cosmic Strings
• Cosmic String Structure at the Gravitational Radiation Scale
• CMB polarization power spectra contributions from a network of cosmic strings
• Evolution of cosmic superstring networks: a numerical simulation
• Cosmic Strings and Cosmic Superstrings
• The CMB temperature bispectrum induced by cosmic strings
• Cosmic microwave anisotropies from BPS semilocal strings
• Low-cost fermions in classical field simulations
• Detecting Cosmic Strings in the CMB with the Canny Algorithm
• Cosmic Strings from Supersymmetric Flat Directions
• Cosmic string Y-junctions: a comparison between field theoretic and Nambu-Goto dynamics
• Constraints on Brane Inflation and Cosmic Strings
• On the degeneracy between primordial tensor modes and cosmic strings in future CMB data from Planck
• Rotation of galaxies as a signature of cosmic strings in weak lensing surveys
• Semi-shifted hybrid inflation with B-L cosmic strings
• Semiclassical decay of topological defects
• Production of Topological Defects at the End of Inflation
• Search for Cosmic Strings in the GOODS Survey
• CMB anisotropies from acausal scaling seeds
• Supergravity and Two-Field Inflation Effects in Right-Handed Sneutrino-Modified D-term Inflation
• Super-horizon cosmic string correlations
• Supersymmetric inflation and baryogenesis via Extra-Flat directions of the MSSM
• Analytic Approaches to the Study of Small Scale Structure on Cosmic String Networks
• GUT cosmic strings and inflation