ar X iv : a st ro - p h / 98 07 15 9 v 1 1 5 Ju l 1 99 8 Primordial Magnetic Fields that Last ? ∗ Sean

The magnetic fields we observe in galaxies today may have their origins in the very early universe. While a number of mechanisms have been proposed which lead to an appreciable field amplitude at early times, the subsequent evolution of the field is of crucial importance, especially whether the correlation length of the field can grow as large as the size of a protogalaxy. This talk is a report on work in progress, in which we consider the fate of one specific primordial field scenario, driven by pseudoscalar effects near the electroweak phase transition. We argue that such a scenario has a number of attractive features, although it is still uncertain whether a field of appropriate size can survive until late times. ∗Based on a talk at the 33rd Rencontres de Moriond: Fundamental Parameters in Cosmology, 17-24 January, 1998, Les Arcs, France; NSF-ITP/98-072, astro-ph/9807159.