Primordial magnetic fields from cosmological first order phase transitions

Abstract

We give an improved estimate of primordial magnetic fields generated during cosmological first order phase transitions. We examine the charge distribution at the nucleated bubble wall and its dynamics. We consider instabilities on the bubble walls developing during the phase transition. It is found that damping of these instabilities due to viscosity and heat conductivity caused by particle diffusion can be important in the QCD phase transition, but is probably negligible in the electroweak transition. We show how such instabilities together with the surface charge densities on bubble walls excite magnetic fields within a certain range of wavelengths. We discuss how these magnetic seed fields may be amplified by magneto hydrodynamics effects in the turbulent fluid. The strength and spectrum of the primordial magnetic field at the present time for the cases where this mechanism was operative during the electroweak or the QCD phase transition are estimated. On a 10 Mpc comoving scale, field strengths of the order ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}29}$ G for electroweak and ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}20}$ G for QCD, could be attained for reasonable phase transition parameters.