Dark Matter Distribution Induced by a Cosmic String Wake in the Nonlinear Regime

We study the distribution of dark matter in the nonlinear regime in a model in which the primordial fluctuations include, in addition to the dominant primordial Gaussian fluctuations generated by the standard $\Lambda CDM$ cosmological model, the effects of a cosmic string wake set up at the time of equal matter and radiation, making use of cosmological $N$-body simulations. At early times the string wake leads to a planar overdensity of dark matter. We study how this non-Gaussian pattern of a cosmic string wake evolves in the presence of the Gaussian perturbations, making use of wavelet and ridgelet-like statistics specifically designed to extract string wake signals. At late times the Gaussian fluctuations disrupt the string wake. We find that for a string tension of $G \mu = 10^{-7}$, a value just below the current observational limit, the effects of a string wake can be identified in the dark matter distribution, using the current level of the statistical analysis, down to a redshift of $z = 10$.