Bochum physicist calculates field strengths in the early
universe
Physical Review Letters: magnetic fields created before the
first stars
Magnets have practically become everyday objects. Earlier
on, however, the universe consisted only of nonmagnetic elements and particles.
Just how the magnetic forces came into existence has been researched by Prof.
Dr. Reinhard Schlickeiser at the Institute of Theoretical Physics of the
Ruhr-Universität Bochum. In the journal Physical Review Letters, he describes a
new mechanism for the magnetisation of the universe even before the emergence
of the first stars.
No permanent magnets in the early universe
Before the formation of the first stars, the luminous matter
consisted only of a fully ionised gas of protons, electrons, helium nuclei and
lithium nuclei which were produced during the Big Bang. “All higher metals, for
example, magnetic iron could, according to today’s conception, only be formed
in the inside of stars”, says Reinhard Schlickeiser