Big-bang nucleosynthesis and gamma-ray constraints on cosmic strings with a large Higgs condensate

Abstract

We consider constraints on cosmic strings from their emission of Higgs particles, in the case that the strings have a Higgs condensate with amplitude of order the string mass scale, assuming that a fraction of the energy of condensate can be turned into radiation near cusps. The injection of energy by the decaying Higgs particles affects the light element abundances predicted by standard Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), and also contributes to the Diffuse Gamma-Ray Background (DGRB) in the universe today. We examine the two main string scenarios (Nambu-Goto and field theory), and find that the primordial Helium abundance strongly constrains the string tension and the efficiency of the emission process in the NG scenario, while the strongest BBN constraint in the FT scenario comes from the Deuterium abundance. The Fermi-LAT measurement of the DGRB constrains the field theory scenario even more strongly than previously estimated from EGRET data, requiring that the product of the string tension {\mu} and Newton's constant G is bounded by G{\mu} < 2.7x10^{-11}{\beta}_{ft}^{-2}, where {\beta}_{ft}^2 is the fraction of the strings' energy going into Higgs particles.