Gravitational wave signatures from kink proliferation on cosmic (super-) strings

Understand

Junctions on cosmic string loops give rise to the proliferation of sharp kinks.

• We study the effect of this proliferation on the gravitational wave (GW) signals emitted from string networks with junctions, assuming a scaling solution.
• We calculate the rate of occurrence and the distribution in amplitude of the GW bursts emitted at cusps and kinks in the frequency bands of LIGO and LISA as a function of the string tension, the number of sharp kinks on loops with junctions and the fraction of loops in the cosmological network which have junctions.
• Combining our results with current observational constraints, we find that pulsar data rule out a significant number of kinks on loops for strings with tensions G\mu > 10^{-12}.