Electroweak Origin of Cosmological Magnetic Fields

Abstract

Magnetic fields may have been generated in the electroweak phase transition through spontaneous symmetry breaking or through the subsequent dynamical evolution of semiclassical field configurations. Here I demonstrate explicitly how magnetic fields emerge spontaneously in the phase transition also when no gradients of the Higgs field are present. Using a simple model, I show that no magnetic fields are generated, at least initially, from classical two-bubble collisions in a first-order phase transition. An improved gauge-invariant definition of the electromagnetic field is advocated which is more appropriate in the sense that it never allows electrically neutral fields to serve as sources for the electromagnetic field. In particular, semiclassical configurations of the Z field alone do not generate magnetic fields. The possible generation of magnetic fields in the decay of unstable Z-strings is discussed.

Revtex, 36 pages, uses aps.sty. Version accepted for publication. Includes estimates of strength and correlation length of the magnetic field for each mechanism of generation. Conclusion about two-bubble collisions weakened. Higgs current clarified. References added. Title shortened

References in corpus (7)

• The Electrical Conductivity in the Early Universe
• Magnetic field generation in first order phase transition bubble collisions
• On the Nature of the Magnetic Fields Generated During the Electroweak Phase Transition
• Evolution of the Order Parameter after Bubble Collisions
• Bubble collisions in SU(2)xU(1) gauge theory and the production of non-topological strings
• Galactic Magnetic Fields from Superconducting Strings
• Definition of the Electromagnetic Field in the Broken-Symmetry Phase of the Electroweak Theory

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• Phase Equilibration and Magnetic Field Generation in U(1) Bubble Collisions
• TASI Lectures: Cosmology for String Theorists
• Topological Nambu monopole in two Higgs doublet models
• Stochastic gravitoelectromagnetic inflation
• Cosmological Consequences of Slow-Moving Bubbles in First-Order Phase Transitions
• The effect of pressure-anisotropy-driven kinetic instabilities on magnetic field amplification in galaxy clusters
• Baryogenesis and CP-Violating Domain Walls in the Background of a Magnetic Field
• Primordial large-scale electromagnetic fields from Gravitoelectromagnetic Inflation
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