Helical Magnetic Fields from Sphaleron Decay and Baryogenesis
Astrophysics
2008-11-26 v2 High Energy Physics - Lattice
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Abstract
Many models of baryogenesis rely on anomalous particle physics processes to give baryon number violation. By numerically evolving the electroweak equations on a lattice, we show that baryogenesis in these models creates helical cosmic magnetic fields. After a transitory period, electroweak dynamics is found to conserve the Chern-Simons number and the total electromagnetic helicity. We argue that baryogenesis could lead to magnetic fields of nano-Gauss strength today on astrophysical length scales. In addition to being astrophysically relevant, such helical magnetic fields can provide an independent probe of baryogenesis and CP violation in particle physics.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.0801.3653,
title = {Helical Magnetic Fields from Sphaleron Decay and Baryogenesis},
author = {Craig J. Copi and Francesc Ferrer and Tanmay Vachaspati and Ana Achucarro},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0801.3653},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
4 pages, 1 figure. Added references, fixed typos