Primordial Gaussian fluctuations from cosmic defects

We extend our recent work on “two-metric” theories of gravity by showing how in such models cosmic defects can produce a spectrum of primordial Gaussian density perturbations. This will happen when the speed characterising the decay products of the defect network is much larger than the speed characterising gravity and all standard model particles. This model will exactly mimic all the standard predictions of inflationary models, and the only way of distinguishing the two will be via the detection of the decay products of the network.