Is the Cosmic "Axis of Evil" due to a Large-Scale Magnetic Field

Abstract

I propose a mechanism that would explain the near alignment of the low order multipoles of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). This mechanism supposes a large-scale cosmic magnetic field that tends to align the cyclotron orbit axes of electrons in hot plasmas along the same direction. Inverse Compton scattering of the CMB photons then imprints this pattern on the CMB, thus causing the low- multipoles to be generally aligned. The spins of the majority of spiral galaxies and that of our own Galaxy appear to be aligned along the cosmic magnetic field.