Journal
PHYSICA SCRIPTA
Volume 91, Issue 10, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/0031-8949/91/10/104008
Keywords
cosmic magnetic fields; primordial magnetogenesis; turbulence
Categories
Funding
- Swedish Research Council [621-2011-5076, 2012-5797]
- European Research Council AstroDyn Research Project [227952]
- FRINATEK grant under the Research Council of Norway [231444]
- Swiss NSF SCOPES grant [IZ7370-152581]
- NASA Astrophysics Theory program grant [NNX10AC85G]
- NSF Astrophysics and Astronomy Grant Program grant [AST-1109180, AST-1615100, AST-1615940]
- Shota Rustaveli Georgian National Science Foundation [FR/264/6-350/14]
- Division Of Astronomical Sciences
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [1615940, 1615100] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Physics
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [1439291] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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We study the evolution of primordial magnetic fields in an expanding cosmic plasma. For this purpose we present a comprehensive theoretical model to consider the evolution of MHD turbulence that can be used over a wide range of physical conditions, including cosmological and astrophysical applications. We model different types of decaying cosmic MHD turbulence in the expanding Universe and characterize the large-scale magnetic fields in such a medium. Direct numerical simulations of freely decaying MHD turbulence are performed for different magnetogenesis scenarios: magnetic fields generated during cosmic inflation as well as electroweak and QCD phase transitions in the early Universe. Magnetic fields and fluid motions are strongly coupled due to the high Reynolds number in the early Universe. Hence, we abandon the simple adiabatic dilution model to estimate magnetic field amplitudes in the expanding Universe and include turbulent mixing effects on the large-scale magnetic field evolution. Numerical simulations have been carried out for non-helical and helical magnetic field configurations. The numerical results show the possibility of inverse transfer of energy in magnetically dominated non-helical MHD turbulence. On the other hand, decay properties of helical turbulence depend on whether the turbulent magnetic field is in a weakly or a fully helical state. Our results show that primordial magnetic fields can be considered as a seed for the observed large-scale magnetic fields in galaxies and clusters. Bounds on the magnetic field strength are obtained and are consistent with the upper and lower limits set by observations of extragalactic magnetic fields.
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