Gravitational wave bursts from cosmic strings: Quantitative analysis and constraints

Abstract:

I will discuss data analysis techniques that can be used in the search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic strings. Motivated by the data analysis, I construct a suitable expression for the cosmological rate of bursts for arbitrary cosmic string loop distributions, and apply it to simple known solutions. The cosmology is solved exactly, including the effects of a late-time acceleration. I will show burst rates that are substantially lower (about a factor of 1000) than previous estimates and explain the disagreement. Initial LIGO is unlikely to detect field theoretic cosmic strings with the usual loop sizes, though it may detect cosmic superstrings as well as cosmic strings and superstrings with non-standard loop sizes (which may be more realistic). In the absence of a detection, I will show how to set upper limits based on the loudest event. Using Initial LIGO sensitivity, these upper limits may result in interesting constraints on the parameter space of theories that lead to the production of cosmic strings.