Self-gravitating general-relativistic cosmic strings

We examine the coupled Einstem-Euler-Lagrange equations for nonstationary cosmic strings. Self-consistent solutions to all the equations are found under the assumption that the energy-momentum tensor is of the formT _t ^t =T _z ^z while all other components vanish. It is shown that the strings are necessarily static in this case and that the scalar field potential must be of the usual quartic form with the coupling constants satisfying e²=8.