Non-intercommuting Cosmic Strings

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We perform the numerical field evolution for the collision of two Abelian type I cosmic strings. We present evidence that, for collisions at small but characteristic relative velocities and angles, these cosmic strings do not exchange ends and separate. Rather, local higher winding number bound states are formed close to the collision point, which promote multiple local scatterings at right angles and prevent intercommutation from happening. This constitutes the simplest example of the breakdown of the intercommutation rule, usually assumed in the construction of effective models for cosmic string network evolution.