Connecting the very large and the very small: effective particle mass in curved-space cosmological models

TL;DR

This paper explores how electromagnetic fields in the early Universe's curved spacetime lead to particles acquiring an effective mass, influenced by both thermal and non-thermal factors, with implications for cosmological phase transitions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that in curved-space cosmological models, particles gain a non-thermal effective mass component from distant matter effects, extending classical plasma physics results.

Findings

Charged particles acquire an effective mass with thermal and non-thermal components.

Non-thermal mass effects grow over time and can influence phase transitions.

The phenomenon is gauge invariant and analogous to the Aharonov-Bohm effect.

Abstract

We investigate the propagation of electromagnetic fields and potentials in the plasma of the early Universe, assuming a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background with negative curvature. Taking over results from classical plasma physics, we show that charged particles will acquire an effective mass that has not only the expected thermal component but also a non-thermal component due to the influence of distant matter. Although this is a direct effect of the vector potential, we show the theory is nevertheless gauge invariant. This phenomenon is therefore in the same category as the Aharonov-Bohm effect. The non-thermal component becomes increasingly important with time, and in some cosmological models can prove to be of decisive importance in bringing about the phase transition that generates normal masses.