The interrelation between the generation of large-scale electric fields and that of large-scale magnetic fields during inflation

Abstract

The interrelation between the generation of large-scale electric fields and that of large-scale magnetic fields due to the breaking of the conformal invariance of the electromagnetic field in inflationary cosmology is studied. It is shown that if large-scale magnetic fields with a sufficiently large amplitude are generated during inflation, the generation of large-scale electric fields is suppressed, and vice versa. Furthermore, a physical interpretation of the result and its cosmological significance are considered.