Magnetic field generation from nonequilibrium phase transitions

被引:34
作者
Boyanovsky, D [1 ]
de Vega, HJ
Simionato, M
机构
[1] Univ Pittsburgh, Dept Phys & Astron, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA
[2] Univ Paris 06, LPTHE, F-75252 Paris 05, France
[3] Univ Paris 07, LPTHE, F-75252 Paris 05, France
关键词
D O I
10.1103/PhysRevD.67.023502
中图分类号
P1 [天文学];
学科分类号
0704 ;
摘要
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 nonequilibrium charge and current fluctuations which generate electromagnetic fields. We present a formulation based on the nonequilibrium 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 spacetime 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. The implications of the results to cosmological phase transitions driven by spinodal instabilities are discussed.
引用
收藏
页数:24
相关论文
共 79 条
[1]   Magnetic field generation in first order phase transition bubble collisions [J].
Ahonen, J ;
Enqvist, K .
PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 1998, 57 (02) :664-673
[2]  
[Anonymous], ASTROPH0106247
[3]   Transport coefficients in high temperature gauge theories, 1. Leading-log results [J].
Arnold, P ;
Moore, GD ;
Yaffe, LG .
JOURNAL OF HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS, 2000, (11)
[4]  
BAKSHI PM, 1963, J MATH PHYS, V4, P12, DOI 10.1063/1.1703879
[5]  
Bassett BA, 2001, PHYS REV D, V63, DOI 10.1103/PhysRevD.63.103515
[6]   Magnetic fields produced by phase transition bubbles in the electroweak phase transition [J].
Baym, G ;
Bodeker, D ;
McLerran, L .
PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 1996, 53 (02) :662-667
[7]   Electrical conductivity in the early universe [J].
Baym, G ;
Heiselberg, H .
PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 1997, 56 (08) :5254-5259
[8]  
BLACKMAN EG, ASTROPH0205002
[9]   Domain formation in finite-time quenches [J].
Bowick, M ;
Momen, A .
PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 1998, 58 (08)
[10]   PHASE-TRANSITIONS OUT OF EQUILIBRIUM - DOMAIN FORMATION AND GROWTH [J].
BOYANOVSKY, D ;
LEE, DS ;
SINGH, A .
PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 1993, 48 (02) :800-815