Gravitational wave bursts from cosmic (super)strings: Quantitative analysis and constraints

Abstract

We discuss data analysis techniques that can be used in the search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic strings. When data from multiple interferometers are available, we describe consistency checks that can be used to greatly reduce the false alarm rates. We construct an expression for the rate of bursts for arbitrary cosmic string loop distributions and apply it to simple known solutions. The cosmology is solved exactly and includes the effects of a late-time acceleration. We find substantially lower burst rates than previous estimates suggest and explain the disagreement. Initial LIGO is unlikely to detect field theoretic cosmic strings with the usual loop sizes, though it may detect cosmic superstrings as well as cosmic strings and superstrings with non-standard loop sizes (which may be more realistic). In the absence of a detection, we show how to set upper limits based on the loudest event. Using Initial LIGO sensitivity curves, we show that these upper limits may result in interesting constraints on the parameter space of theories that lead to the production of cosmic strings.

Replaced with version accepted for publication in PRD

Cited by in corpus (24)

• Gravitational wave stochastic background from cosmic (super)strings
• Small-Angle CMB Temperature Anisotropies Induced by Cosmic Strings
• Stochastic Gravitational Wave Background from Light Cosmic Strings
• The Mock LISA Data Challenges: from Challenge 1B to Challenge 3
• Cosmic Sparks from Superconducting Strings
• Cosmic String Structure at the Gravitational Radiation Scale
• Constraints on string networks with junctions
• The Loudest Event Statistic: General Formulation, Properties and Applications
• Cosmic Strings and Cosmic Superstrings
• First LIGO search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic (super)strings
• Gravitational Waves from Light Cosmic Strings: Backgrounds and Bursts with Large Loops
• Cosmic Strings from Supersymmetric Flat Directions
• Microlensing by Cosmic Strings
• Cosmic Superstrings
• Production of Topological Defects at the End of Inflation
• Magnetogenesis from Cosmic String Loops
• Cosmic String Loops and Gravitational Radiation
• Gravitational Radiation by Cosmic Strings in a Junction
• Gravitational Wave Bursts from Cosmic Superstring Reconnections
• Periodic Gravitational Waves From Small Cosmic String Loops
• Scattering of cosmic strings by black holes: loop formation
• Clustering of Superstring Loops
• Coating thermal noise for arbitrary shaped beams
• Analytic Approaches to the Study of Small Scale Structure on Cosmic String Networks