Numerical Backreaction and Finite-Time Energy Transfer in Post-Recombination Magnetogenesis from Ultralight Dark Matter

Abstract

We study gauge-field production in a post-recombination magnetogenesis scenario driven by an ultralight pseudoscalar dark matter field $ϕ$ coupled to electromagnetism. Previous analytical work has shown that a homogeneous oscillating $ϕ$ background can excite gauge field modes through tachyonic and narrow-band resonance channels. Here we follow the coupled evolution of the homogeneous $ϕ$ mode and gauge field modes of both helicities in an expanding background. Our numerical work confirms the results for the spectra of produced gauge particles obtained in the previous approximate analytical treatments. In addition, our study allows us to determine when back-reaction shuts off the resonance. We find that for parameter values for which the tachyonic instability band is open, back-reaction does not shut off the resonance until a fraction ${\cal{F}}$ of order one of the initial dark matter energy density has been transferred to photons, and this happens on a time scale which is short compared to the Hubble time. In the parameter range in which only the narrow resonance band is open, ${\cal{F}}$ eventually reaches order one, but the time when this happens increases as the effective coupling constant decreases, and therefore ${\cal{F}}$ may remain negligible until the present time.