Beschreibung
Cosmic strings are one-dimensional topological defects that may form in symmetry-breaking phase transitions in the early universe. While they may reach cosmological scales in length they are typically thinner than a proton. Therefore we can treat them as essentially one-dimensional when modelling their dynamics.
If they exist we may detect them through the radiation they emit: If they form in the breaking of a gauge symmetry they produce gravitational waves, and if they form in the breaking of a global symmetry they emit light scalar axion-like particles.