On Primordial Magnetic Fields

Abstract

A primordial magnetic field could be responsible for the observed magnetic fields of the galaxies. One possibility is that such a primordial field is generated at the electroweak phase transition because of the fluctuations in the Higgs field gradients. I describe a statistical averaging procedure which gives rise to a field of a correct magnitude. Another possibility, where the Yang-Mills vacuum itself is ferrromagnetic, is also discussed.

Comments: 12 pages, LaTeX. No figures. NORDITA-94/24 P. (Talk given at the NATO workshop "Electroweak Physics and the Early Universe", Sintra, Portugal, March 1994.)