arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Ola Tornkvist.
We consider vacuum polarization from massless scalar electrodynamics in de Sitter inflation. The theory exhibits a 3+1 dimensional analogue of the Schwinger mechanism in which a photon mass is dynamically generated. The mechanism is generic for light scalar fields that couple minimally to gravity. The non-vanishing of the photon mass during inflation may result in magnetic fields on cosmological scales.
We consider models in which the (transverse) photon mass is non-zero during inflation and drops to zero non-adiabatically at the end of inflation. Through this process, vacuum fluctuations of the photon field are converted into physical, long-wavelength modes with high amplitude. The resulting spectrum of the field strength is approximately B_l ~ 1/l, where l is the relevant coherence scale. With a reasonable model of field evolution we obtain, on comoving galactic scales, a magnetic field strong enough to seed a dynamo mechanism and generate the observed galactic magnetic fields.
We show that conformal invariance of gauge fields is naturally broken in inflation, having as a consequence amplification of gauge fields. The resulting spectrum of the field strength is approximately B_L ~ L^(-1), where L is the relevant coherence scale. One realisation of our scenario is scalar electrodynamics with a scalar whose mass is large enough to evade observational constraints - the obvious candidates being supersymmetric partners of the standard-model fermions. Our mechanism also leads naturally to amplification of the standard-model Z-boson field due to its coupling to the electroweak Higgs field. At preheating, the spectrum of the Z field is transferred to the hypercharge field, which remains frozen in the plasma and is converted into a magnetic field at the electroweak phase transition. With a reasonable model of field evolution one obtains a magnetic field strength of the order of $10^{-29}$ Gauss on a scale of 100 pc, the size of the largest turbulent eddy in a virialised galaxy. Resonant amplification in preheating can lead to primordial fields as large as $10^{-24}$ Gauss, consistent with the seed field required for the galactic dynamo mechanism.
In this talk, I review a number of particle-physics models that lead to the creation of magnetic fields in the early universe and address the complex problem of evolving such primordial magnetic fields into the fields observed today. Implications for future observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) are discussed. Focussing on first-order phase transitions in the early universe, I describe how magnetic fields arise in the collision of expanding true-vacuum bubbles both in Abelian and non-Abelian gauge theories.
I review a number of particle-physics models that lead to the creation of magnetic fields in the early universe and address the complex problem of evolving such primordial magnetic fields into the fields observed today. Implications for future observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) are briefly discussed.
We point out that the lower bound on the primordial magnetic field required to seed the galactic dynamo is significantly relaxed in an open universe or in a universe with a positive cosmological constant. It is shown that, for reasonable cosmological parameters, primordial seed fields of strength 10^{-30} Gauss or less at the time of galaxy formation could explain observed galactic magnetic fields. As a consequence, mechanisms of primordial magnetic seed-field generation that have previously been ruled out could well be viable. We also comment on the implications of the observation of micro-Gauss magnetic fields in galaxies at high redshift.
Primordial magnetic fields may be created in collisions of expanding bubbles in a first-order cosmological phase transition and later serve as seed fields for galactic magnetic fields. Here I present results from numerical and analytical studies of U(1) bubble collisions done in collaboration with Ed Copeland and Paul Saffin. I also reveal preliminary results from analytical studies of SU(2)xU(1) bubble collisions, which provide first evidence that magnetic fields are created in electroweak two-bubble collisions.
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.
In the broken-symmetry phase of the electroweak theory there is no unique definition of the electromagnetic field tensor in cases where the magnitude of the Higgs field differs from a constant value. The meaning of the electromagnetic field is therefore dubious near defects and during non-equilibrium stages of the electroweak phase transition. Nevertheless, by imposing a minimal set of natural requirements one is led to a specific, gauge-invariant definition that retains the familiar properties of an electromagnetic field. An electromagnetic vector potential is constructed whose curl (exterior derivative) in any gauge gives the electromagnetic field tensor. As is required, this vector potential transforms at most by a pure gradient under arbitrary SU(2)xU(1) gauge transformations. The flux of the magnetic field is expressed as a gauge-invariant line integral. Curiously, this provides a definition for magnetic flux in cases where the spatial region with broken symmetry is not simply connected and the magnetic field itself is not everywhere defined.
I review some of the mechanisms through which primordial magnetic fields may be created in the electroweak phase transition. I show that no magnetic fields are produced initially from two-bubble collisions in a first-order transition. The initial field produced in a three-bubble collision is computed. The evolution of fields at later times is discussed.
We derive an exact equation of motion for a non-relativistic vortex in two- and three-dimensional models with a complex field. The velocity is given in terms of gradients of the complex field at the vortex position. We discuss the problem of reducing the field dynamics to a closed dynamical system with non-locally interacting strings as the fundamental degrees of freedom.
Solitons in extensions of the Standard Model can serve as localized sources of CP violation. Depending on their stability properties, they may serve either to create or to deplete the baryon asymmetry. The conditions for existence of a particular soliton candidate, the membrane solution of the two-Higgs model, are presented. In the generic case, investigated by Bachas and Tomaras, membranes exist and are metastable for a wide range of parameters. For the more viable supersymmetric case, it is shown that the present-day existence of CP-violating membranes is experimentally excluded, but preliminary studies suggest that they may have existed in the early universe soon after the electroweak phase transition, with important consequences for the baryon asymmetry of the universe.
We study non-topological and CP-violating static wall solutions in the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. We show that such membranes, characterized by a non-trivial winding of the relative $U(1)$ phase of the two Higgs fields in the direction orthogonal to the wall, exist for small values of the mass of the CP-odd Higgs boson when loop corrections to the Higgs potential are included. Although their present-day existence is excluded by experimental bounds, we argue why they may have existed in the early universe with important cosmological consequences.
We derive the exact equation of motion for a vortex in two- and three- dimensional non-relativistic systems governed by the Ginzburg-Landau equation with complex coefficients. The velocity is given in terms of local gradients of the magnitude and phase of the complex field and is exact also for arbitrarily small inter-vortex distances. The results for vortices in a superfluid or a superconductor are recovered.
An introduction to the subject of baryon number non-conservation in the electroweak theory at high temperatures or energies is followed by a summary of our discovery of an infinite surface of sphaleron-like configurations which play a key role in baryon-number non-conserving transitions in a hot electroweak plasma.
The space of static finite-energy configurations in the electroweak theory admits a $Z_2$ topological structure. More precisely, we show that this space contains two disconnected sectors of unstable gauge-Higgs fields odd under a properly defined generalized parity. This classification extends the description of baryon and lepton number violating electroweak processes to the symmetric phase of the theory. Configurations with odd pure-gauge behaviour at spatial infinity, such as the sphaleron, multisphalerons, electroweak strings as well as an infinite surface of their equivalents, have half-integer Chern-Simons number and mediate B+L violating processes in the early universe. Finite-energy configurations with even pure-gauge behaviour, such as the $S^*$ new sphaleron and electroweak strings, are topologically equivalent to the vacuum and are irrelevant for B+L violation. We discuss the possible formation of B+L violating quark-lepton condensates in the symmetric high-temperature phase of the electroweak theory.
The phase transition of the electroweak vacuum induced by a strong magnetic field is examined, and a connection is made with the Ginzburg-Landau theory of type-II superconductivity. For solutions of the exact nonlinear field equations of the electroweak theory with lattice periodicity in directions perpendicular to the magnetic field, it is proven that, likewise, each lattice cell must enclose an integer number of quanta of magnetic flux. Close to the lower critical magnetic field, a perturbative method developed by MacDowell and the author is used to study properties of the lattice solutions. Analytical expressions for observables are obtained in terms of a complex parameter $τ$ specifying the lattice and it is shown that the triangular Abrikosov solution constitutes a local minimum of the energy provided $M_H > M_Z$. PACS numbers: 11.15.Kc, 11.15.Ex, 74.60.-w, 05.70.Fh