English

Cosmic magnetization: from spontaneously emitted aperiodic turbulent to ordered equipartition fields

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2015-06-05 v1 Plasma Physics

Abstract

It is shown that an unmagnetized nonrelativistic thermal electron-proton plasma spontaneously emits aperiodic turbulent magnetic field fluctuations of strength δB=9βeg1/3We1/2|\delta B|=9\beta_eg^{1/3}W_e^{1/2} G, where βe\beta_e is the normalized thermal electron temperature, WeW_e the thermal plasma energy density and gg the plasma parameter. Aperiodic modes fluctuate only in space, but are not propagating. For the unmagnetized intergalactic medium, immediately after the reionization onset, the field strength from this mechanism is about 4.710164.7\cdot 10^{-16} G, too weak to affect the dynamics of the plasma. The shear and/or compression of the intergalactic medium exerted by the first supernova explosions amplify these seed fields and make them anisotropic, until the magnetic restoring forces affect the gas dynamics at ordered plasma betas near unity.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1207.2963,
  title  = {Cosmic magnetization: from spontaneously emitted aperiodic turbulent to ordered equipartition fields},
  author = {R. Schlickeiser},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1207.2963},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

4 pages, 1 figure