HEP Theory Journal Club

Distorting the CMB Spectrum with Topological Defects

Bryce Cyr

McGill

To date, the CMB has provided us with vast amounts of cosmological data with which to constrain different scenarios in the early and late universe. The CMB photon spectrum, however, has not been measured since the early 90s, and has the power to peek at the universe in its optically thick state at redshifts before recombination. After reviewing the formalism of spectral distortions and topological defects, I will show how energy injection into the pre-recombination plasma from the decays of cosmic strings and textures can leave imprints on this spectrum, which may be detected by proposed space telescopes in the late 2020's.