Effects of Cosmic String Velocities and the Origin of Globular Clusters

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the velocities of cosmic string loops influence their potential to seed globular clusters, comparing theoretical predictions with observational data to identify critical velocity thresholds.

Contribution

It introduces a model that incorporates cosmic string loop velocities into the formation of globular clusters and determines the velocity limits for consistency with observations.

Findings

High-velocity loops do not form globular clusters.

Critical velocity threshold identified for model-observation agreement.

Mass distribution predictions match observed data below the velocity limit.

Abstract

With the hypothesis that cosmic string loops act as seeds for globular clusters in mind, we study the role that velocities of these strings will play in determining the mass distribution of globular clusters. Loops with high enough velocities will not form compact and roughly spherical objects and can hence not be the seeds for globular clusters. We compute the expected number density and mass function of globular clusters as a function of both the string tension and the peak loop velocity, and compare the results with the observational data on the mass distribution of globular clusters in our Milky Way. We determine the critical peak string loop velocity above which the agreement between the string loop model for the origin of globular clusters (neglecting loop velocities) and observational data is lost.