Generation of magnetic fields in Einstein-aether gravity

Recently the lower bounds of the intergalactic magnetic fields ${10}^{-16}\sim {10}^{-20}\mathrm{G}$ are set by gamma-ray observations while it is unlikely to generate such large scale magnetic fields through astrophysical processes. It is known that large scale magnetic fields could be generated if there exist cosmological vector-mode perturbations in the primordial plasma. The vector mode, however, has only a decaying solution in general relativity if the plasma consists of perfect fluids. In order to investigate a possible mechanism of magnetogenesis in the primordial plasma, here we consider cosmological perturbations in the Einstein-aether gravity model, in which the aether field can act as a new source of vector metric perturbations. The vector metric perturbations induce the velocity difference between baryons and photons which then generate magnetic fields. This velocity difference arises from effects at the second order in the tight-coupling approximation. We estimate the angular power spectra of temperature and $B$-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies in this model and put a rough constraint on the aether field parameters from latest observations. We then estimate the power spectrum of associated magnetic fields around the recombination epoch within this limit. It is found that the spectrum has a characteristic peak at $k=0.1h{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-1}$, and at that scale the amplitude can be as large as $B\sim {10}^{-22}\mathrm{G}$ where the upper bound comes from cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies. The magnetic fields with this amplitude can be seeds of large scale magnetic fields observed today if the sufficient dynamo mechanism takes place. Analytic interpretation for the power spectra is also given.