High Energy Fluxes from a Non-Scaling Cosmic String Network

TL;DR

This paper explores a new cosmic string evolution model where particle production dominates energy loss, leading to high-energy cosmic ray flux predictions that are compared with observational data.

Contribution

It introduces a novel scenario for cosmic string energy loss, emphasizing particle production over gravitational radiation, and calculates resulting high-energy cosmic ray fluxes.

Findings

Predicted fluxes are consistent with observed ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

Particle production from cosmic strings can account for energies above 10^20 eV.

The model suggests a significant role for cosmic strings in high-energy astrophysics.

Abstract

Topological defects, particularly cosmic strings, can provide a mechanism to produce particles with energies of the order 10^21 eV and higher. Here, we report on order of magnitude calculations of fluxes from a cosmic string network which evolves according to a new scenario according to which the main channel for energy loss is the particle production rather than gravitational radiation. We compare the predicted fluxes for protons (anti-protons) and neutrinos (anti-neutrinos) with observations of extremely high energy cosmic rays.