title: Robust constraint on cosmic textures from the cosmic microwave background.
abstract: Fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) contain information which has been pivotal in establishing the current cosmological model. These data can also be used to test well-motivated additions to this model, such as cosmic textures. Textures are a type of topological defect that can be produced during a cosmological phase transition in the early Universe, and which leave characteristic hot and cold spots in the CMB. We apply bayesian methods to carry out a rigorous test of the texture hypothesis, using full-sky data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. We conclude that current data do not warrant augmenting the standard cosmological model with textures. We rule out at 95% confidence models that predict more than 6 detectable cosmic textures on the full sky.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom. stephen.feeney.09@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Feeney
authors.forename: Matthew C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Mortlock
authors.forename: Hiranya V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Peiris