Ivan Rybak(CAPA & Universidad de Zaragoza)

Exploring the Diversity of Cosmic Strings through Gravitational Waves

The early universe hosted high-energy processes that may hold important insights into fundamental physics. A particularly rich prediction of many high-energy models is the existence of cosmic strings, which can arise in diverse forms and generate distinctive gravitational wave signatures. These signals are becoming increasingly accessible with current and upcoming observatories.
In this talk, I will present predictions for the stochastic gravitational wave background from Nambu–Goto cosmic strings and outline the challenges that remain. I will then explore natural extensions of the Nambu–Goto framework, motivated by high-energy theories, such as superconducting cosmic strings, and demonstrate how they alter gravitational wave predictions. I will also briefly discuss another candidate: cosmic superstrings.
Finally, I will emphasize how this broader perspective on cosmic string models is crucial for interpreting current observations, such as pulsar timing array data, and for shaping expectations for future space-based detectors like LISA