EVOLUTION OF SMALL-SCALE STRUCTURE ON COSMIC STRINGS

An analytic approach to cosmic string evolution is developed to complement the computer simulations, with the aim of helping to resolve the apparent conflict between the simulations of various authors. Equations are derived governing he evolution of small-scale structure on cosmic strings. It is shown that the question of whether or not the loop distribution, as well as the long-string distribution, will approach scaling depends critically on the value of a parameter q which describes the relative kinkiness of a loop as compared to a section of long string of the same length. Several predictions are made that can readily be checked against the simulations.