Inflation-produced, large-scale magnetic fields

We study the production of large-scale (\ensuremath{\sim}Mpc) magnetic fields in inflationary Universe models. The magnetic fields produced are uninterestingly small unless the conformal invariance of the electromagnetic field is broken. Once the conformal invariance is broken, a mechanism akin to ``superadiabatic amplification'' can operate and lead to sizable primeval magnetic fields. We consider three ways of breaking the conformal invariance: through gravitational couplings of the photon; through the coupling of the photon to a charged massless, nonconformally invariant scalar field; and through the anomalous coupling of the photon to axions. The primeval magnetic fields which result can have astrophysically interesting strengths, but are very model dependent.

Inflation-produced, large-scale magnetic fields | Litlas