Probing correlations of early magnetic fields using μ-distortion
The damping of a non-uniform magnetic field between the redshifts of about 10{sup 4} and 10{sup 6} injects energy into the photon-baryon plasma and causes the CMB to deviate from a perfect blackbody spectrum, producing a so-called μ-distortion. We can calculate the correlation (μ T) of this distortion with the temperature anisotropy T of the CMB to search for a correlation ( B{sup 2}ζ) between the magnetic field B and the curvature perturbation ζ; knowing the ( B{sup 2}ζ) correlation would help us distinguish between different models of magnetogenesis. Since the perturbations which produce the μ-distortion will be much smaller scale than the relevant density perturbations, the observation of this correlation is sensitive to the squeezed limit of ( B{sup 2}ζ), which is naturally parameterized by b{sub NL} (a parameter defined analogously to f{sub NL}). We find that a PIXIE-like CMB experiments has a signal to noise S/N≈ 1.0 × b{sub NL} ( B-tilde {sub μ}/10nG){sup 2}, where B-tilde {sub μ} is the magnetic field's strength on μ-distortion scales normalized to today's redshift; thus, a 10 nG field would be detectable with b{sub NL}=O(1). However, if the field is of inflationary origin, we generically expect it to be accompanied by a curvature bispectrum (ζ{sup 3}) induced by the magnetic field. For sufficiently small magnetic fields, the signal ( B{sup 2} ζ) will dominate, but for B-tilde {sub μ}∼> 1 nG, one would have to consider the specifics of the inflationary magnetogenesis model. We also discuss the potential post-magnetogenesis sources of a ( B{sup 2}ζ) correlation and explain why there will be no contribution from the evolution of the magnetic field in response to the curvature perturbation.
- OSTI ID:
- 22373408
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2014, Issue 08; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Parity-violating CMB correlators with non-decaying statistical anisotropy
Moment transport equations for the primordial curvature perturbation