Influence of backreaction of electric fields and Schwinger effect on inflationary magnetogenesis

Abstract

We study the generation of electromagnetic fields during inflation when the conformal invariance of Maxwell's action is broken by the kinetic coupling $f^{2}(ϕ)F_{μν}F^{μν}$ of the electromagnetic field to the inflaton field $ϕ$. We consider the case where the coupling function $f(ϕ)$ decreases in time during inflation and, as a result, the electric component of the energy density dominates over the magnetic one. The system of equations which governs the joint evolution of the scale factor, inflaton field, and electric energy density is derived. The backreaction occurs when the electric energy density becomes as large as the product of the slow-roll parameter $ε$ and inflaton energy density, $ρ_{E}\sim ερ_{\rm inf}$. It affects the inflaton field evolution and leads to the scale-invariant electric power spectrum and the magnetic one which is blue with the spectral index $n_{B}=2$ for any decreasing coupling function. This gives an upper limit on the present-day value of observed magnetic fields below $10^{-22}\,{\rm G}$. It is worth emphasizing that since the effective electric charge of particles $e_{\rm eff}=e/f$ is suppressed by the coupling function, the Schwinger effect becomes important only at the late stages of inflation when the inflaton field is close to the minimum of its potential. The Schwinger effect abruptly decreases the value of the electric field, helping to finish the inflation stage and enter the stage of preheating. It effectively produces the charged particles, implementing the Schwinger reheating scenario even before the fast oscillations of the inflaton. The numerical analysis is carried out in the Starobinsky model of inflation for the powerlike $f\propto a^α$ and Ratra-type $f=\exp(βϕ/M_{p})$ coupling functions.