Magnetic fields and large-scale structure in a hot universe. II. Magnetic flux tubes and filamentary structure

Abstract

In paper I, we obtained an equation for the evolution of density inhomogeneities in a radiation dominated universe when they are affected by magnetic fields. In this second paper we apply this equation to the case in which the subjacent magnetic configuration is a flux tube. For scales of the order of 1 Mpc or less the differential equation is elliptical. To solve it, we have used the numerical method based on "Simultaneous Over Relaxation", SOR, with Chebyshev acceleration and we have treated the problem as a boundary value problem, which restricts the prediction ability of the integration. For large-scale flux tubes, much larger than 1 Mpc, the equation can be analytically integrated and no assumption about the final shape or magnitude of the inhomogeneity is required. In both cases we obtain an evolution which does not differ very much from linear in time. The inhomogeneity in the density becomes filamentary. Large scale structures ($\ge$ 10 Mpc) are probably unaffected by damping, non-linear and amplification mechanisms after Equality, so that this model provides a tool to interpret the present observed large scale structure. Filaments are very frequently found in the large-scale structure in the Universe. It is suggested here that they could arise from primordial magnetic flux tubes, thus providing an alternative hypothesis for its interpretation; in particular we consider the case of the Coma-A1367 supercluster, where the magnetic field is known to be high.