Monopoles, strings, walls, and gravitational waves

The gauge symmetry breaking $SU(2) \to U(1) \to Z_2 \to 1$ successively produces monopoles, strings and domain walls bounded by strings (WBS), with the elementary monopole carrying a $U(1)$ magnetic flux twice as large as the elementary string. The elementary strings and subsequently WBS emit gravitational waves, and during their decay, the WBS yield a network of composite strings that carry the same $U(1)$ flux as the monopoles. Depending on the cosmological evolution, we provide the gravitational wave spectra generated by the elementary strings and WBS, in combination with the composite strings which are either effectively stable, quasistable, or metastable. These three scenarios are also realized in the symmetry breaking chain $SU(3) \to SO(3) \to Z_2 \to 1$. Both $SU(2)$ and $SU(3)$ have appeared in the literature as flavor gauge symmetries.