Gravitational wave bursts from cosmic strings

Cusps of cosmic strings emit strong beams of high-frequency gravitational w aves (GW). As a consequence of these beams, the stochastic ensemble of grav itational waves generated by a cosmological network of oscillating loops is strongly non-Gaussian, and includes occasional sharp bursts that stand abo ve the rms GW background. These bursts might be detectable by the planned G W detectors LIGO/VIRGO and LISA for string tensions as small as G mu simila r to 10(-13). The GW bursts discussed here might be accompanied by gamma ra y bursts.