Magnetic field generation in bubble collisions in the electroweak phase transition

In this work we investigate how magnetic fields may have been formed during the electroweak phase transition. Magnetic fields on the order of 10 m G have been observed in many galaxies and galactic clusters, and while their exact origin is unknown it is commonly believed that they may have arisen from primordial seed fields created during the early universe. Earlier works investigated the possibility that magnetic fields were created during the electroweak phase transition in the context of the Abelian Higgs model, and it was shown that magnetic fields are created in bubble collisions as a result of Higgs field equilibration.

We show the results of an extension of this model to the more general non- Abelian case of electroweak theory. Here, magnetic fields are created in bubble collisions as the result of W field dynamics, where the charged TV bosons constitute an electric current created during the bubble collisions. We discuss both analytical and numerical results of this model, and find that the inclusion of the non-Abelian terms in the electroweak Lagrangian may lead to Che creation of magnetic fields several orders of magnitude greater than in the Abelian Higgs model.