The Implications of the COBE-DMR Results for Cosmic Strings

Abstract

We compare the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background radiation measured by the COBE experiment to the predictions of cosmic strings. We use an analytic model for the $\Delta T/T$ power spectrum that is based on our previous numerical simulations to show that the COBE results imply a value for the string mass per unit length, $\mu$ under the assumption that cosmic strings are the source of the measured anisotropy. We find $G\mu = 1.5\pm 0.5 \times 10^{-6}$ which is consistent with the value of $\mu$ thought to be required for cosmic strings to seed galaxy formation.