DYNAMICAL FRICTION ON COSMIC-STRING MOTION AND MAGNETIC-FIELD GENERATION

We demonstrate that the effects of dynamical friction on the motion of a wiggly cosmic string are much larger than previously estimated for a straight string. Although network simulations are not significantly affected by our results, this does provide a mechanism for transferring linear and angular momentum from the string network to the surrounding matter particles. A consequence of the vorticity produced by this process could be the generation of weak primordial magnetic fields which are necessary to explain observed galactic magnetic fields. © 1995 The American Physical Society.