Electroweak Strings, Sphalerons and Magnetic Fields

Abstract

In this talk I would like to discuss three main topics. First, I will connect electroweak strings and the sphaleron in a more elaborate manner than that described in my paper with George Field1 and discuss the important issue of the stability of electroweak strings. Secondly, I would like to initiate a discussion of the formation of electroweak strings and their evolution by painting a heuristic picture of the phase transition if the phase transition is weakly first order or second order. Inextricably tied to this picture is a possible scenario for baryogenesis and it is hoped that the present discussion will inspire more rigorous work to either confirm or reject the scenario. Finally, I will make a few comments on the generation of magnetic fields at the electroweak phase transition. Kari Enqvist has already described the basic idea of how this scenario works2 and the purpose of these comments is to clarify some of the issues that have not been addressed in the literature. I will also describe the scenario in an alternate way that makes an interesting connection between electroweak strings and primordial magnetic fields.