Magnetogenesis and the primordial non-gaussianity

TL;DR

This paper investigates how variations in electromagnetic coupling during inflation, mediated by light scalar fields, can produce observable effects on primordial density fluctuations, potentially linking magnetogenesis to inflationary signatures.

Contribution

It computes the effects of a varying electromagnetic coupling on inflationary spectra and bispectra, demonstrating model stability and consistency with observations for relevant mass scales.

Findings

Corrections to the spectrum and bispectrum are derived.

The model remains stable and consistent with observational constraints.

Magnetogenesis scenarios can leave detectable inflationary imprints.

Abstract

The primordial density fluctuation inevitably couples to all forms of matter via loop corrections and depends on the ambient conditions while inflation was ongoing. This gives us an opportunity to observe processes which were in progress while the universe was inflating, provided they were sufficiently dramatic to overcome suppression by powers of (H/MP)^2 ~ 10^(-9), where H is the Hubble scale during inflation and MP is the Planck mass. As an example, if a primordial magnetic field was synthesized during inflation, as suggested by some interpretations of the apparently universal 10^(-6) gauss field observed on galactic scales, then this could leave traces in inflationary observables. In this paper, I compute corrections to the spectrum and bispectrum generated by a varying electromagnetic coupling during inflation, assuming that the variation in this coupling is mediated by interaction with a collection of light scalar fields. If the mass scale associated with this interaction is too far below the Planck scale then the stability of perturbation theory can be upset. For the mass-scale which is relevant in the standard magnetogenesis scenario, however, the theory is stable and the model is apparently consistent with observational constraints.