Excitation Fields in a Superconducting Global String

Abstract

A model of a straight superconducting global cosmic string is examined in a setting wherein the string supports a charge/current pulse described by a travelling wave along the string. Linearized field equations are obtained for fluctuations of the scalar and vector fields of the theory, and a set of approximate particular solutions are found for the case in which the linear charge density and the current of the string have equal magnitudes. Although the equations of motion seem to suggest that the scalar and vector excitation fields are massive inside the string core, the particular solutions show that they behave as effectively massless fields which propagate at the speed of light along the string along with the primary charge/current pulse. The effect of the mass parameter is to modulate the radial profile of the excitation fields. The vector excitation field generates radial and angular components for both the electric and magnetic fields, but the particular solutions do not describe the emission or absorption of electromagnetic radiation from the string.