Superconducting cosmic strings as gamma ray burst engines

TL;DR

This paper proposes that cusps of superconducting cosmic strings can explain gamma-ray bursts, predicting associated gravitational wave signals detectable by current observatories.

Contribution

It introduces a model linking cosmic string cusps to GRBs, accounting for observed properties with a single parameter and predicting gravitational wave counterparts.

Findings

Explains GRB rate, duration, and fluence with cosmic string parameters.

Predicts detectable gravitational waves from GRB-associated cosmic strings.

Accounts for short-time structures in GRBs via string wiggles.

Abstract

Cusps of superconducting strings can serve as GRB engines. A powerful beamed pulse of electromagnetic radiation from a cusp produces a jet of accelerated particles, whose propagation is terminated by the shock responsible for GRB. A single free parameter, the string scale of symmetry breaking $\eta \sim 10^{14} GeV$, together with reasonable assumptions about the magnitude of cosmic magnetic fields and the fraction of volume that they occupy, explains the GRB rate, duration and fluence, as well as the observed ranges of these quantities. The wiggles on the string can drive the short-time structures of GRB. This model predicts that GRBs are accompanied by strong bursts of gravitational radiation which should be detectable by LIGO, VIRGO and LISA detectors.