Bounds on cosmic strings from WMAP and SDSS

2005/03/31 by Mark Wyman, Levon Pogosian, Ira Wasserman · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Anisotropy #Astrophysics #CMB cold spot #Cosmic microwave background #Cosmic string #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Markov chain Monte Carlo #Monte Carlo method #Particle physics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Sky #Spectral density #Statistics #String (physics) #Theoretical physics #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.72.023513

published as Phys.Rev.D72:023513,2005; Erratum-ibid.D73:089905,2006 · 11 pages, 7 figures. A few errors in the computer code used to calculated CMB anistotropy from strings are fixed, resulting in a somewhat tighter bound on Gμand an enhanced B-mode polarization. Details of the corrected errors and their implications can be found in astro-ph/0604141. Go to http://physics.syr.edu/~lepogosi/cmbact.html for our now-corrected cosmic string CMB and LSS code

openalex publication_date 2005/07/18 · arxiv created 2006/04/07 · arxiv updated 2014/10/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We find the constraints from Wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe (WMAP) and Sloan digital sky survey (SDSS) data on the fraction of cosmological fluctuations sourced by local cosmic strings using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis. In addition to varying the usual 6 cosmological parameters and the string tension (\ensuremathμ), we also varied the amount of small-scale structure on the strings. Our results indicate that cosmic strings can account for up to 7 (14)% of the total power of the microwave anisotropy at 68 (95)% confidence level. The corresponding bound on the string mass per unit length, within our string model, is G\ensuremathμ<3.4(5)\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10^\ensuremath-7 at 68 (95)% C.L. We also calculate the B-type polarization spectra sourced by cosmic strings and discuss the prospects of their detection.

Citations

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Cited by

• Effects of cosmic strings on free streaming
• Seeking string theory in the cosmos
• Super hilltop inflation
• Updated constraints on the cosmic string tension