Abstract
We calculate the contribution of cosmic strings arising from a phase transition in the early Universe, or cosmic superstrings arising from brane inflation, to the cosmic 21 cm power spectrum at redshifts . Future experiments can exploit this effect to constrain the cosmic string tension and probe virtually the entire brane inflation model space allowed by current observations. Although current experiments with a collecting area of will not provide any useful constraints, future experiments with a collecting area of covering the cleanest 10% of the sky can, in principle, constrain cosmic strings with tension (superstring/phase transition mass scale ).
- Received 9 September 2007
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.091302
©2008 American Physical Society