Abstract
Constraints on the tension and the abundance of cosmic strings depend crucially on the rate at which they decay into particles and gravitational radiation. We study the decay of cosmic string loops in the Abelian-Higgs model by performing field theory simulations of loop formation and evolution. We find that our set of string loops emits particle radiation primarily due to kink collisions, and that the decay time due to these losses is proportional to Lp with p≈2 where L is the loop length. In contrast, the decay time to gravitational radiation scales in proportion to L, and we conclude that particle emission is the primary energy loss mechanism for loops smaller than a critical length scale, while gravitational losses dominate for larger loops.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 201301 |
| Journal | Physical Review Letters |
| Volume | 122 |
| Issue number | 20 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 20 2019 |
Fingerprint
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
Cite this
Decay of Cosmic String Loops due to Particle Radiation. / Matsunami, Daiju; Pogosian, Levon; Saurabh, Ayush; Vachaspati, Tanmay.
In: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 122, No. 20, 201301, 20.05.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Decay of Cosmic String Loops due to Particle Radiation
AU - Matsunami, Daiju
AU - Pogosian, Levon
AU - Saurabh, Ayush
AU - Vachaspati, Tanmay
PY - 2019/5/20
Y1 - 2019/5/20
N2 - Constraints on the tension and the abundance of cosmic strings depend crucially on the rate at which they decay into particles and gravitational radiation. We study the decay of cosmic string loops in the Abelian-Higgs model by performing field theory simulations of loop formation and evolution. We find that our set of string loops emits particle radiation primarily due to kink collisions, and that the decay time due to these losses is proportional to Lp with p≈2 where L is the loop length. In contrast, the decay time to gravitational radiation scales in proportion to L, and we conclude that particle emission is the primary energy loss mechanism for loops smaller than a critical length scale, while gravitational losses dominate for larger loops.
AB - Constraints on the tension and the abundance of cosmic strings depend crucially on the rate at which they decay into particles and gravitational radiation. We study the decay of cosmic string loops in the Abelian-Higgs model by performing field theory simulations of loop formation and evolution. We find that our set of string loops emits particle radiation primarily due to kink collisions, and that the decay time due to these losses is proportional to Lp with p≈2 where L is the loop length. In contrast, the decay time to gravitational radiation scales in proportion to L, and we conclude that particle emission is the primary energy loss mechanism for loops smaller than a critical length scale, while gravitational losses dominate for larger loops.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85066823140&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85066823140&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.201301
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.201301
M3 - Article
VL - 122
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
SN - 0031-9007
IS - 20
M1 - 201301
ER -