Related papers: Galactic Magnetic Fields from Superconducting Stri…
We demonstrate that a quasi-uniform cosmological seed field is a much less suitable seed for a galactic dynamo than has often been believed. The age of the Universe is insufficient for a conventional galactic dynamo to generate a…
The decay of non-topological electroweak strings formed during the electroweak phase transition in the early universe may leave an observable imprint in the universe today. Such strings can naturally seed primordial magnetic fields.…
A variety of observations suggest that magnetic fields are present in all galaxies and galaxy clusters. These fields are characterized by a modest strength (10^{-7}-10^{-5} G) and huge spatial scale (~Mpc). It is generally assumed that…
Spontaneous breaking of Lorentz invariance may take place in string theories, possibly endowing the photon with a mass. This leads to the breaking of the conformal symmetry of the electromagnetic action allowing for the generation within…
The origin of the magnetic field in galaxies is an open question in astrophysics. Several mechanisms have been proposed related, in general, with the generation of small seed fields amplified by a dynamo mechanism. In general, these…
Neutron stars, and magnetars in particular, are known to host the strongest magnetic fields in the Universe. The origin of these strong fields is a matter of controversy. In this preliminary work, via numerical simulations, we study, for…
We extend the quantititative string evolution model of Martins and Shellard to superconducting strings by introducing a simple toy model for the evolution of the currents. This is based on the dynamics of a `superconducting correlation…
In this Letter we reanalyse the question of the origin of magnetic fields during the electroweak phase transition. We show that their formation is intimately connected to some semiclassical configurations of the gauge fields, such as…
We present a model for the seeding and evolution of magnetic fields in protogalaxies. Supernova (SN) explosions during the assembly of a protogalaxy provide magnetic seed fields, which are subsequently amplified by compression, shear flows…
We study the generation of primordial magnetic fields, coherent over cosmologically interesting scales, by gravitational creation of charged scalar particles during the reheating period. We show that magnetic fields consistent with those…
Cosmic strings are a type of cosmic defect formed by a symmetry-breaking phase transition in the early universe. Individual strings would have gathered to build a network, and their dynamical motion would induce scalar--, vector-- and…
Magnetic fields in galaxies are produced via the amplification of seed magnetic fields of unknown nature. The seed fields, which might exist in their initial form in the intergalactic medium, were never detected. We report a lower bound…
Galaxies are observed to host magnetic fields with a typical total strength of around 15microgauss. A coherent large-scale field constitutes up to a few microgauss of the total, while the rest is built from strong magnetic fluctuations over…
Magnetic fields are present on all scales in the Universe. While we understand the processes which amplify the fields fairly well, we do not have a "natural" mechanism to generate the small initial seed fields. By using fully relativistic…
The universe is magnetized on all scales probed so far. On the largest scales, galaxies and galaxy clusters host magnetic fields at the micro Gauss level coherent on scales up to ten kpc. Recent observational evidence suggests that even the…
Magnetic fields correlated on several kiloparsec scales are seen in spiral galaxies. Their origin could be due to amplification of a small seed field by a turbulent galactic dynamo. We critically review the current status of the galactic…
We consider grand unified theories with superconducting cosmic strings and which admit the mechanism for generating primordial magnetic fields recently discussed by Vachaspati. We show that these models are severely constrained by…
Here we summarize our recent results of high-resolution computer simulations on the turbulent amplification of weak magnetic seed fields showing that such fields will be exponentially amplified also during the gravitational collapse…
Interstellar magnetic fields in elliptical galaxies are assumed to have their origin in stellar fields that accompany normal mass loss from an evolving population of old stars. The seed fields are amplified by interstellar turbulence driven…
The generation of primordial magnetic fields from cosmological phase transitions is discussed, paying particular attention to the electroweak transition and to the various definitions of the `average' field that have been put forward. It is…