Anomaly-driven inverse cascade and inhomogeneities in a magnetized chiral plasma in the early Universe

E. V. Gorbar, I. Rudenok, I. A. Shovkovy, and S. Vilchinskii
Phys. Rev. D 94, 103528 – Published 28 November 2016

Abstract

By making use of a simple model that captures the key features of the anomalous Maxwell equations, we study the role of inhomogeneities on the evolution of magnetic fields in a chiral plasma. We find that inhomogeneities of the chiral asymmetry by themselves do not prevent the anomaly-driven inverse cascade and, as in the homogeneous case, the magnetic helicity is transferred from shorter to longer wavelength helical modes of the magnetic field. However, we also find that the evolution appears to be sensitive to the effects of diffusion. In the case when diffusion is negligible, the inverse cascade slows down considerably compared to the homogeneous scenario. In the case of the primordial plasma, though, we find that the diffusion is substantial and efficiently suppresses chiral asymmetry inhomogeneities. As a result, the inverse cascade proceeds practically in the same way as in the chirally homogeneous model.

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  • Received 11 October 2016

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.94.103528

© 2016 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

  1. Research Areas
Gravitation, Cosmology & AstrophysicsPlasma Physics

Authors & Affiliations

E. V. Gorbar1,2, I. Rudenok1, I. A. Shovkovy3,4, and S. Vilchinskii1,5

  • 1Department of Physics, Taras Shevchenko National Kiev University, Kiev 03022, Ukraine
  • 2Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kiev 03680, Ukraine
  • 3College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, Arizona State University, Mesa, Arizona 85212, USA
  • 4Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
  • 5Université de Genéve, Département de Physique Théorique, CH-1211 Genéve 4, Switzerland

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Issue

Vol. 94, Iss. 10 — 15 November 2016

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