Fields in the Vicinity of a Superconducting Cosmic String

Superconducting cosmic strings may be viewed as wires of thickness 1/Λ with Λ = 1016 TeV. We show that the weak interactions will spread out the current to distances r = (1/MZ) ln(I/MZ), where I is the magnitude of the current in the string. Consequences for the scattering of light by these strings is presented. Symmetry breaking at scales of Λ = 10 TeV, or higher, may induce strings that behave as superconducting wires [1] carrying currents of the order of I = 10 A. The radius of these “wires” is governed by the masses of the Higgs particles responsible for the symmetry breaking and will be of the order of 1/Λ. It has been noted that, due to other interactions, various instabilities will develop at larger radii. Hadronic chiral symmetry breaking will screen fields for r ≤ I/fπmπ [2]; r is the distance from the wire. At distances of the order of r = I/M W the anomalous magnetic moment of the W boson induces a condensation [3] of ∗Electronic address: [email protected] ∗∗Electronic address: [email protected]