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Article
Report number	hep-ph/0202168 ; CERN-TH-2002-043
Title	Microwave Background Constraints on Decaying Defects
Author(s)	Brandenberger, Robert H. (CERN ; Brown U.) ; Carter, Brandon (Meudon Observ.) ; Davis, Anne-Christine (Cambridge U., DAMTP)
Affiliation	(CERN) ; (Brown Univ. Providence) ; (Observatoire Meudon) ; (Cambridge Univ.)
Publication	2002
Imprint	17 Feb 2002
Number of pages	6
Note	6 pages, 0 figures
In:	Phys. Lett. B 534 (2002) 1-7
DOI	10.1016/S0370-2693(02)01675-1
Subject category	Particle Physics - Phenomenology
Abstract	Embedded defects are predicted in a host of particle physics theories, in particular in the standard electroweak theory. They can be stabilized by interactions with the cosmological plasma, but will decay once the plasma falls out of equilibrium, emitting a substantial fraction of non-thermal photons. If the decay happens after a redshift of about $10^6$, these photons will give rise to spectral distortions of the Cosmic Microwave Background, which leads to strong constraints on the underlying particle physics theory. Such constraints apply to any model with decaying defects, and in particular to theories predicting decaying vortons, thereby leading to constraints stronger than the dark matter limit.
Copyright/License	Elsevier Science B.V.

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