Are GRB 090423 and Similar bursts due to Superconducting Cosmic strings?

Abstract

Superconducting cosmic strings may be able to power energetic gamma-ray bursts, in particular at high-redshifts ($z>6$). The ultra-relativistic outflows driven by the superconducting cosmic strings, however, seem too narrow to be consistent with the afterglow data of GRB 090423 and GRB 080913.

Updated to match the version published in Phys. Rev. Lett