Yukawa Interactions and Dynamical Generation of Mass in an External Magnetic Field

TL;DR

This paper investigates how an external magnetic field and Yukawa interactions can induce fermion mass generation, potentially influencing early universe phase transitions.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Yukawa coupling enhances mass generation and reduces magnetic field strength needed, impacting early universe physics.

Findings

Yukawa coupling increases fermion mass generation

Magnetic field strength required decreases with Yukawa interaction

Implications for fermion bound states during electroweak transition

Abstract

In this work we study the dynamical generation of a fermion mass induced by a constant and uniform external magnetic field in an Abelian gauge model with a Yukawa term. We show that the Yukawa coupling not only enhances the dynamical generation of the mass, but it substantially decreases the magnetic field required for the mass to be generated at temperatures comparable to the electroweak critical temperature. These results indicate that if large enough primordial magnetic fields were present during the early universe evolution, the field-induced generation of fermion masses, which in turn corresponds to the generation of fermion bound states, may play an important role in the electroweak phase transition.