Axions from string decay

We have studied numerically the evolution and decay of axion strings. These global defects decay mainly by axion emission and thus contribute to the c osmological axion energy density. The relative importance of this source re lative to misalignment production of axions depends on the spectrum. Radiat ion spectra for various string loop configurations are presented. They supp ort the contention that the string decay contribution is of the same order of magnitude as the contribution from misalignment.