Global texture and the microwave background

Abstract

The metric perturbation produced by a collapsing ‘‘knot’’ of global texture in a flat background is calculated. This is used to calculate the energy shift for photons traversing such knots, leading to a prediction for the microwave anisotropy pattern produced in the global-texture scenario for large-scale structure formation. The metric is also used to calculate the velocity field induced in nonrelativistic matter, on scales well inside the horizon. This would produce an early generation of small gravitationally bound objects. At larger scales, the texture field would induce coherent velocity fields on a scale comparable to that seen in galaxy surveys.