Primordial Magnetogenesis and Gravitational Waves from ALP-assisted Phase Transition

Abstract

Sufficiently strong first-order phase transitions (FOPTs) in the early Universe can simultaneously produce an observable stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) and a large-scale primordial magnetic field (PMF). The recent $3.8\sigma$ evidence for a non-zero intergalactic magnetic field from anisotropic pair-halo searches using \textit{Fermi}-LAT data further motivates a cosmological origin. We investigate an FOPT-origin of both cosmic signatures, namely, PMF and SGWB, and their correlation, within a minimal axion-like particle (ALP) framework in which a global $U(1)$ symmetry is spontaneously broken through radiative corrections, with the ALP sector coupled to the Standard Model (SM) via a Higgs-portal. We compute the present-day PMF amplitude and coherence length for both maximally helical and non-helical configurations, accounting for inverse cascade effects. For maximally helical configurations, we find peak field strengths up to $B_0\sim 10^{-9}$ G at coherence length ${\lambda }_0\sim 10^{-3}-10^{-1}$ Mpc, consistent with lower bounds on the IGMF inferred from blazar observations by MAGIC, H.E.S.S. and {\it Fermi}-LAT. We show that the ALP parameter region consistent with $\gamma$-ray blazar data (assuming maximally helical fields) simultaneously produces stochastic GW signals detectable at future space-based interferometers, such as LISA, etc., over the ALP decay constant range $10^3\text{GeV}\lesssim f_a\lesssim 10^5\text{GeV}$. We demonstrate that these correlated constraints can be directly mapped onto effective ALP couplings to SM particles, e.g., photons, gluons, and fermions. This establishes a multi-messenger complementarity between cosmological observables and laboratory/astrophysical ALP searches, with combined constraints preferring relatively heavy ALPs, $m_a\gtrsim 0.1\text{GeV}$, accessible to next-generation intensity and energy-frontier experiments.

Comments: 42 pages, 7 figures. Minor revision and references added. Version accepted for publication in JCAP