Non-Gaussian Fluctuations From Textures
  One of the most powerful tools to probe the existence of cosmic defects in the early universe is through the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. It is well known that computations with causal sources are more involved than the adiabatic counterparts based on inflation, and this fact has in part hampered the development of fine detailed predictions. Analytical modeling, while necessarily limited in power, may tell us the overall characteristics of CMB from defects and hint at new features. We apply an analytical model for textures to the study of non-Gaussian features of the CMB sky and compare our predictions with the four-year COBE-DMR data. 
Alejandro Gangui (ICTP,SISSA)