1999/06/30 by K. Benabed, Francis Bernardeau, F. Bernardeau · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Amplitude #Anisotropy #Astrophysics #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmic background radiation #Cosmic microwave background #Cosmic string #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Inflation (cosmology) #Inflaton #Optics #Physics #Polarization (electrochemistry) #String (physics) #Theoretical physics #Universe #astro-ph #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.61.123510
Latex2e with REVTEX ; 5 pages, 5 figures accepted for publication in PRD Title and abstract changed, a few lines and references added, following referee suggestions. Composition changed to follow PRD style convention
arxiv created 2000/01/19 · openalex publication_date 2000/05/23 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Extending the Kaiser-Stebbins mechanism we propose here a method for detecting relics of topological defects such as cosmic strings based on lens-induced small-scale B-type polarization in the cosmic microwave background. Models of inflation, in which large-scale structures of the Universe emerge from the inflaton fluctuations, do not exclude the formation of topological defects at the end of the inflationary phase. In such a case, we show that the lens effect of a string on the small-scale E-type polarization of the cosmic microwave background induces a significant amount of B-type polarization along the line of sight. The amplitude of the effect is estimated for different resolutions of cosmic microwave background experiments.