Cosmic String Constraints From WMAP and the South Pole Telescope Data
The predictions of the inflationary LCDM paradigm match today's high-precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background anisotropy extremely well. The same data put tight limits on other sources of anisotropy. Cosmic strings are a particularly interesting alternate source to constrain. S...
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ftharvardudash:oai:dash.harvard.edu:1/42656556 2023-05-15T18:22:01+02:00 Cosmic String Constraints From WMAP and the South Pole Telescope Data Dvorkin, Cora Wyman, Robert Hu, Wayne 2011 application/pdf http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:42656556 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.84.123519 en_US eng American Physical Society (APS) doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.84.123519 Physical Review D Dvorkin, Cora, Mark Wyman, and Wayne Hu. 2011. Cosmic String Constraints from WMAP and the South Pole Telescope Data. Phys. Rev. D 84, no. 12. 1550-7998 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:42656556 Journal Article 2011 ftharvardudash https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.84.123519 2023-01-07T23:20:32Z The predictions of the inflationary LCDM paradigm match today's high-precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background anisotropy extremely well. The same data put tight limits on other sources of anisotropy. Cosmic strings are a particularly interesting alternate source to constrain. Strings are topological defects, remnants of inflationary-era physics that persist after the big bang. They are formed in a variety of models of inflation, including string theory models such as brane inflation. We assume a "Nambu-Goto" model for strings, approximated by a collection of unconnected segments with zero width, and show that measurements of temperature anisotropy by the South Pole Telescope break a parameter degeneracy in the WMAP data, permitting us to place a strong upper limit on the possible string contribution to the CMB anisotropy: the power sourced by zero-width strings must be <1.75% (95% CL) of the total or the string tension Gmu <1.7x10^{-7}. These limits imply that the best hope for detecting strings in the CMB will come from B-mode polarization measurements at arcminute scales rather than the degree scale measurements pursued for gravitational wave detection. Physics Accepted Manuscript Article in Journal/Newspaper South pole Harvard University: DASH - Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard South Pole Physical Review D 84 12 |
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Harvard University: DASH - Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard |
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English |
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The predictions of the inflationary LCDM paradigm match today's high-precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background anisotropy extremely well. The same data put tight limits on other sources of anisotropy. Cosmic strings are a particularly interesting alternate source to constrain. Strings are topological defects, remnants of inflationary-era physics that persist after the big bang. They are formed in a variety of models of inflation, including string theory models such as brane inflation. We assume a "Nambu-Goto" model for strings, approximated by a collection of unconnected segments with zero width, and show that measurements of temperature anisotropy by the South Pole Telescope break a parameter degeneracy in the WMAP data, permitting us to place a strong upper limit on the possible string contribution to the CMB anisotropy: the power sourced by zero-width strings must be <1.75% (95% CL) of the total or the string tension Gmu <1.7x10^{-7}. These limits imply that the best hope for detecting strings in the CMB will come from B-mode polarization measurements at arcminute scales rather than the degree scale measurements pursued for gravitational wave detection. Physics Accepted Manuscript |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dvorkin, Cora Wyman, Robert Hu, Wayne |
spellingShingle |
Dvorkin, Cora Wyman, Robert Hu, Wayne Cosmic String Constraints From WMAP and the South Pole Telescope Data |
author_facet |
Dvorkin, Cora Wyman, Robert Hu, Wayne |
author_sort |
Dvorkin, Cora |
title |
Cosmic String Constraints From WMAP and the South Pole Telescope Data |
title_short |
Cosmic String Constraints From WMAP and the South Pole Telescope Data |
title_full |
Cosmic String Constraints From WMAP and the South Pole Telescope Data |
title_fullStr |
Cosmic String Constraints From WMAP and the South Pole Telescope Data |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cosmic String Constraints From WMAP and the South Pole Telescope Data |
title_sort |
cosmic string constraints from wmap and the south pole telescope data |
publisher |
American Physical Society (APS) |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:42656556 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.84.123519 |
geographic |
South Pole |
geographic_facet |
South Pole |
genre |
South pole |
genre_facet |
South pole |
op_relation |
doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.84.123519 Physical Review D Dvorkin, Cora, Mark Wyman, and Wayne Hu. 2011. Cosmic String Constraints from WMAP and the South Pole Telescope Data. Phys. Rev. D 84, no. 12. 1550-7998 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:42656556 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.84.123519 |
container_title |
Physical Review D |
container_volume |
84 |
container_issue |
12 |
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1766201359544090624 |