15 research outputs found
Cosmological Magnetic Fields from Primordial Helicity
Primordial magnetic fields may account for all or part of the fields observed
in galaxies. We consider the evolution of the magnetic fields created by
pseudoscalar effects in the early universe. Such processes can create
force-free fields of maximal helicity; we show that for such a field magnetic
energy inverse cascades to larger scales than it would have solely by flux
freezing and cosmic expansion. For fields generated at the electroweak phase
transition, we find that the predicted wavelength today can in principle be as
large as 10 kpc, and the field strength can be as large as 10^{-10} G.Comment: 13 page
The Cosmic Microwave Background and Helical Magnetic Fields: the tensor mode
We study the effect of a possible helicity component of a primordial magnetic
field on the tensor part of the cosmic microwave background temperature
anisotropies and polarization. We give analytical approximations for the tensor
contributions induced by helicity, discussing their amplitude and spectral
index in dependence of the power spectrum of the primordial magnetic field. We
find that an helical magnetic field creates a parity odd component of gravity
waves inducing parity odd polarization signals. However, only if the magnetic
field is close to scale invariant and if its helical part is close to maximal,
the effect is sufficiently large to be observable. We also discuss the
implications of causality on the magnetic field spectrum.Comment: We have corrected a normalisation error which was pointed out to us
by Antony Lewis. It enhances our limits on the magnetic fields by
(2\pi)^{3/4} ~
On the variation of the gauge couplings during inflation
It is shown that the evolution of the (Abelian) gauge coupling during an
inflationary phase of de Sitter type drives the growth of the two-point
function of the magnetic inhomogeneities. After examining the constraints on
the variation of the gauge coupling arising in a standard model of inflationary
and post-inflationary evolution, magnetohydrodynamical equations are
generalized to the case of time evolving gauge coupling. It is argued that
large scale magnetic fields can be copiously generated. Other possible
implications of the model are outlined.Comment: 5 pages in RevTex style, one figur
Large-scale magnetic fields from inflation in dilaton electromagnetism
The generation of large-scale magnetic fields is studied in dilaton
electromagnetism in inflationary cosmology, taking into account the dilaton's
evolution throughout inflation and reheating until it is stabilized with
possible entropy production. It is shown that large-scale magnetic fields with
observationally interesting strength at the present time could be generated if
the conformal invariance of the Maxwell theory is broken through the coupling
between the dilaton and electromagnetic fields in such a way that the resultant
quantum fluctuations in the magnetic field has a nearly scale-invariant
spectrum. If this condition is met, the amplitude of the generated magnetic
field could be sufficiently large even in the case huge amount of entropy is
produced with the dilution factor as the dilaton decays.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, the version accepted for publication in Phys.
Rev. D; some references are adde
Magnetic field generation from non-equilibrium phase transitions
We study the generation of magnetic fields during the stage of particle
production resulting from spinodal instabilities during phase transitions out
of equilibrium. The main premise is that long-wavelength instabilities that
drive the phase transition lead to strong non-equilibrium charge and current
fluctuations which generate electromagnetic fields. We present a formulation
based on the non-equilibrium Schwinger-Dyson equations that leads to an exact
expression for the spectrum of electromagnetic fields valid for general
theories and cosmological backgrounds and whose main ingredient is the
transverse photon polarization out of equilibrium. This formulation includes
the dissipative effects of the conductivity in the medium. As a prelude to
cosmology we study magnetogenesis in Minkowski space-time in a theory of N
charged scalar fields to lowest order in the gauge coupling and to leading
order in the large N within two scenarios of cosmological relevance. The
long-wavelength power spectrum for electric and magnetic fields at the end of
the phase transition is obtained explicitly.
It follows that equipartition between electric and magnetic fields does not
hold out of equilibrium. In the case of a transition from a high temperature
phase, the conductivity of the medium severely hinders the generation of
magnetic fields, however the magnetic fields generated are correlated on scales
of the order of the domain size, which is much larger than the magnetic
diffusion length. Implications of the results to cosmological phase transitions
driven by spinodal unstabilities are discussed.Comment: Preprint no. LPTHE 02-55, 30 pages, latex, 2 eps figures. Added one
reference. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Large scale magnetogenesis from a non-equilibrium phase transition in the radiation dominated era
We study the generation of large scale primordial magnetic fields by a
cosmological phase transition during the radiation dominated era. The setting
is a theory of N charged scalar fields coupled to an abelian gauge field, that
undergoes a phase transition at a critical temperature much larger than the
electroweak scale. The dynamics after the transition features two distinct
stages: a spinodal regime dominated by linear long-wavelength instabilities,
and a scaling stage in which the non-linearities and backreaction of the scalar
fields are dominant. This second stage describes the growth of horizon sized
domains. We implement a recently introduced formulation to obtain the spectrum
of magnetic fields that includes the dissipative effects of the plasma. We find
that large scale magnetogenesis is very efficient during the scaling regime.
The ratio between the energy density on scales larger than L and that in the
background radiation r(L,T) = rho_B(L,T)/rho_{cmb}(T) is r(L,T) \sim 10^{-34}
at the Electroweak scale and r(L,T) \sim 10^{-14} at the QCD scale for L \sim 1
Mpc. The resulting spectrum is insensitive to the magnetic diffusion length. We
conjecture that a similar mechanism could be operative after the QCD chiral
phase transition.Comment: LaTex, 25 pages, no figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Magnetogenesis and the dynamics of internal dimensions
The dynamical evolution of internal space-like dimensions breaks the
invariance of the Maxwell's equations under Weyl rescaling of the (conformally
flat) four-dimensional metric. Depending upon the number and upon the dynamics
of internal dimensions large scale magnetic fields can be created. The
requirements coming from magnetogenesis together with the other cosmological
constraints are examined under the assumption that the internal dimensions
either grow or shrink (in conformal time) prior to a radiation dominated epoch.
If the internal dimensions are growing the magnitude of the generated magnetic
fields can seed the galactic dynamo mechanism.Comment: 27 in RevTex style, four figure
Large-scale magnetic fields from inflation due to a -even Chern-Simons-like term with Kalb-Ramond and scalar fields
We investigate the generation of large-scale magnetic fields due to the
breaking of the conformal invariance in the electromagnetic field through the
-even dimension-six Chern-Simons-like effective interaction with a fermion
current by taking account of the dynamical Kalb-Ramond and scalar fields in
inflationary cosmology. It is explicitly demonstrated that the magnetic fields
on 1Mpc scale with the field strength of G at the present time
can be induced.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, version accepted for publication in Eur. Phys.
J.
Amplification of hypercharge electromagnetic fields by a cosmological pseudoscalar
If, in addition to the standard model fields, a new pseudoscalar field exists
and couples to hypercharge topological number density, it can exponentially
amplify hyperelectric and hypermagnetic fields in the symmetric phase of the
electroweak plasma, while coherently rolling or oscillating. We present the
equations describing the coupled system of a pseudoscalar field and hypercharge
electromagnetic fields in the electroweak plasma at temperatures above the
electroweak phase transition, discuss approximations to the equations, and
their validity. We then solve the approximate equations using assorted
analytical and numerical methods, and determine the parameters for which
hypercharge electromagnetic fields can be exponentially amplified.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure