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The origin, evolution and signatures of primordial magnetic fields

19 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.

19 Pith papers citing it
abstract

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 intergalactic medium in voids could host a weak $\sim 10^{-16}$ Gauss magnetic field, coherent on Mpc scales. An intriguing possibility is that these observed magnetic fields are a relic from the early universe, albeit one which has been subsequently amplified and maintained by a dynamo in collapsed objects. We review here the origin, evolution and signatures of primordial magnetic fields. After a brief summary of magnetohydrodynamics in the expanding universe, we turn to magnetic field generation during inflation and other phase transitions. We trace the linear and nonlinear evolution of the generated primordial fields through the radiation era, including viscous effects. Sensitive observational signatures of primordial magnetic fields on the cosmic microwave background, including current constraints from Planck, are discussed. After recombination, primordial magnetic fields could strongly influence structure formation, especially on dwarf galaxy scales. The resulting signatures on reionization, the redshifted 21 cm line, weak lensing and the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest are outlined. Constraints from radio and $\gamma$-ray astronomy are summarized. Astrophysical batteries and the role of dynamos in reshaping the primordial field are briefly considered. The review ends with some final thoughts on primordial magnetic fields.

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representative citing papers

Schwinger effect in axion inflation on a lattice

astro-ph.CO · 2025-06-25 · unverdicted · novelty 7.0

Lattice simulations show that Schwinger currents saturate gauge-field production in axion inflation, yielding universal conductivity and magnetic-field values at the onset of strong backreaction.

Self-Consistent Parker Bound on Magnetic Monopoles

hep-ph · 2026-05-20 · conditional · novelty 6.0

A self-consistent Parker bound, anchored in the dynamo seed eigenmode and including turbulent pre-acceleration of monopoles, relaxes the standard extended Parker bound by roughly two orders of magnitude at low and intermediate monopole masses.

Chiral gravitational waves from multi-phase magnetogenesis

astro-ph.CO · 2026-02-18 · unverdicted · novelty 6.0

Multi-phase inflation with chiral vector interactions generates amplified primordial magnetic fields that induce a detectable circularly polarized gravitational-wave background.

Symbiotic Magnetogenesis during Radiation Domination

astro-ph.HE · 2026-06-23 · unverdicted · novelty 5.0

A symbiotic axion-dilaton system sources a moderately chiral dark U(1) magnetic field of astrophysically relevant strength during radiation domination through tachyonic amplification without fine-tuning.

Electromagnetism from relativistic fluid dynamics

physics.gen-ph · 2025-02-11 · unverdicted · novelty 5.0

Electromagnetism is reformulated from relativistic fluid dynamics via pull-back of differential forms from matter space, imposing kinematical constraints from the absence of four-forms and identifying a preferred frame where spacetime field strength matches the intrinsic matter-space two-form.

Suppressed Magnetogenesis from Ultralight Dark Matter due to Finite Conductivity

astro-ph.CO · 2026-04-19 · unverdicted · novelty 5.0

Finite conductivity of the plasma suppresses parametric resonance amplification of electromagnetic fields from ultralight pseudoscalar dark matter, making it impossible to generate magnetic fields of sufficient strength in cosmic voids for observationally viable couplings.

Fast Radio Bursts as Cosmological Probes

astro-ph.CO · 2026-06-26 · unverdicted · novelty 2.0

FRBs serve as cosmological probes via dispersion measure, scattering, and Faraday rotation to constrain baryon distribution, expansion history, magnetic fields, and fundamental physics effects.

The Large-Scale Structure of the Universe through the SKA lenses

astro-ph.CO · 2026-06-30 · unverdicted · novelty 1.0

This review chapter summarizes the cosmic web's theoretical framework, recent radio observations of diffuse gas, and the expected impact of the SKA on detecting baryons in filaments and cluster outskirts.

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