Gravitational waves from kinks on infinite cosmic strings

TL;DR

This paper investigates gravitational waves emitted by kinks on infinite cosmic strings, showing their potential detectability by future pulsar timing experiments and their use as probes of the early universe's thermal history.

Contribution

It provides detailed estimations of kink distributions on infinite strings and explores how the resulting gravitational wave spectrum depends on the universe's thermal history.

Findings

Gravitational waves from kinks could be detected by SKA with appropriate string tension.

The gravitational wave spectrum varies with the universe's thermal history.

Detection depends on the size of string loops relative to the horizon at formation.

Abstract

Gravitational waves emitted by kinks on infinite strings are investigated using detailed estimations of the kink distribution on infinite strings. We find that gravitational waves from kinks can be detected by future pulsar timing experiments such as SKA for an appropriate value of the the string tension, if the typical size of string loops is much smaller than the horizon at their formation. Moreover, the gravitational wave spectrum depends on the thermal history of the Universe and hence it can be used as a probe into the early evolution of the Universe.