String-mediated electroweak baryogenesis: A critical analysis - art. no. 065014

We study the scenario of electroweak baryogenesis mediated by nonsupercondu cting cosmic strings. This idea relies upon electroweak symmetry being rest ored in a region around the core of the topological defect so that, within this region, the rate of baryon number violation is enhanced. We compute nu merically how effectively baryon number is violated along a cosmic string, at an epoch when the baryon number violation rate elsewhere is negligible. We show that B violation along nonsuperconducting strings is quite ineffici ent. When proper accounting is taken of the velocity dependence of the bary on number production by strings, it proves too small to explain the observe d abundance by at least ten orders of magnitude, whether the strings are in the friction dominated or the scaling regime. [S0556-2821 (99)03606-1].