Scaling Laws for Non-Intercommuting Cosmic String Networks

Abstract

We study the evolution of non-interacting and entangled cosmic string networks in the context of the velocity-dependent one-scale model. Such networks may be formed in several contexts, including brane inflation. We show that the frozen network solution $L\propto a$, although generic, is only a transient one, and that the asymptotic solution is still $L\propto t$ as in the case of ordinary (intercommuting) strings, although in the present context the universe will usually be string-dominated. Thus the behaviour of two strings when they cross does not seem to affect their scaling laws, but only their densities relative to the background.

Phys. Rev. D (in press); v2: final published version (references added, typos corrected)