Peak-peak correlations in the cosmic background radiation from cosmic
  strings
  We examine the two-point correlation function of local maxima in temperature
fluctuations at the last scattering surface when this stochastic field is
modified by the additional fluctuations produced by straight cosmic strings via
the Kaiser-Stebbins effect. We demonstrate that one can detect the imprint of
cosmic strings with tension $G\mu \gtrsim 1.2 \times 10^{-8}$ on noiseless
$1^\prime$ resolution cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps at 95% confidence
interval. Including the effects of foregrounds and anticipated systematic
errors increases the lower bound to $G\mu \gtrsim 9.0\times 10^{-8}$ at
$2\sigma$ confidence level. Smearing by beams of order 4' degrades the bound
further to $G\mu \gtrsim 1.6 \times 10^{-7}$. Our results indicate that
two-point statistics are more powerful than 1-point statistics (e.g. number
counts) for identifying the non-Gaussianity in the CMB due to straight cosmic
strings.
