Large-scale gauge spectra and pseudoscalar couplings

It is shown that the slopes of the superhorizon hypermagnetic spectra produced by the variation of the gauge couplings are practically unaffected by the relative strength of the parity-breaking terms. A new method is proposed for the estimate of the gauge power spectra in the presence of pseudoscalar interactions during inflation. To corroborate the general results, various concrete examples are explicitly analyzed. Since the large-scale gauge spectra also determine the late-time magnetic fields, it turns out that the pseudoscalar contributions have little impact on the magnetogenesis requirement. Conversely the parity breaking terms crucially affect the gyrotropic spectra that may seed, in certain models, the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. In the most interesting regions of the parameter space, the modes reentering prior to symmetry breaking lead to a sufficiently large baryon asymmetry while the magnetic power spectra associated with the modes reentering after symmetry breaking may even be of the order of a few hundredths of a nG over typical length scales comparable with the Mpc prior to the collapse of the protogalaxy. From the viewpoint of the effective field theory description of magnetogenesis scenarios, these considerations hold generically for the whole class of inflationary models where the inflaton is not constrained by any underlying symmetry.

Automated summary

The slopes of superhorizon hypermagnetic spectra generated by changes in gauge couplings are not significantly influenced by parity-breaking terms. A new method is proposed for estimating gauge power spectra during inflation with pseudoscalar interactions. The impact of pseudoscalar contributions on magnetogenesis requirements is minimal.