Prospects for Taiji to detect a gravitational-wave background from cosmic strings

Understand

Recently, multiple pulsar timing array collaborations have presented compelling evidence for a stochastic signal at nanohertz frequencies, potentially originating from cosmic strings.

• Cosmic strings are linear topological defects that can arise during phase transitions in the early Universe or as fundamental strings in superstring theory.
• This paper focuses on investigating the detection capabilities of Taiji, a planned space-based gravitational wave detector, for the gravitational wave background generated by cosmic strings.
• By analyzing simulated Taiji data and utilizing comprehensive Bayesian parameter estimation techniques, we demonstrate a significant improvement in precision compared to the NANOGrav 15-year data, surpassing it by an order of magnitude.