Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/2289/3627
Title: Primordial magnetic fields and formation of molecular hydrogen
Authors: Sethi, S.K.
Nath, Biman B.
Subramanian, Kandaswamy
Keywords: magnetic fields
MHD
molecular processes
cosmology: miscellaneous
Issue Date: Jun-2008
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing for the RAS
Citation: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2008, Vol.387, p1589
Abstract: We study the implications of primordial magnetic fields for the thermal and ionization history of the post-recombination era. In particular, we compute the effects of dissipation of primordial magnetic fields owing to ambipolar diffusion and decaying turbulence in the intergalactic medium (IGM) and the collapsing haloes, and compute the effects of the altered thermal and ionization history on the formation of molecular hydrogen. We show that, for magnetic field strengths in the range 2 × 10-10 <~ B0 <~ 2 × 10-9G, the molecular hydrogen fraction in IGM and collapsing halo can increase by a factor of 5 to 1000 over the case with no magnetic fields. We discuss the implication of the increased molecular hydrogen fraction on the radiative transfer of ultraviolet photons and the formation of first structures in the universe.
Description: Restricted Access. An open-access version is available at arXiv.org (one of the alternative locations)
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2289/3627
ISSN: E-ISSN: 1365-2966
P-ISSN: 0035-8711
Alternative Location: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008MNRAS.387.1589S
http://arxiv.org/abs/0804.3473
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13302.x
Copyright: 2008 Royal Astronomical Society
Appears in Collections:Research Papers (A&A)

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