2006/04/30 by E. R. Siegel, J. N. Fry
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Computational physics #Cosmology #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Electron #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Magnetic field #Nuclear physics #Optics #Photon #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Scattering #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/507785
published as Astrophys.J.651:627-635,2006 · 9 pages, 3 figures, important error corrected: with the correction, overall field strengths are 10^{-24} Gauss, discussion of other works in the literature expanded, and references added
arxiv created 2006/06/22 · openalex publication_date 2006/11/02 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
This paper examines the generation of seed magnetic fields due to the growth of cosmological perturbations. In the radiation era, different rates of scattering from photons induce local differences in the ion and electron density and velocity fields. The currents due to the relative motion of these fluids generate magnetic fields on all cosmological scales, peaking at a magnitude of O (10 -24 G) at the epoch of recombination. Magnetic fields generated in this manner provide a promising candidate for the seeds of magnetic fields currently observed on galactic and extragalactic scales.