Have electric and magnetic fields played any role in the large scale structure of the universe?

Not so far as we can tell in the history of the universe before about 1 million years after the Big Bang because there could not possibly have been any large-scale organized flows of charged particles to produce the organized currents needed to create large-scale magnetic fields. There may, however, have been a role for magnetic fields in the formation of stars out of collapsing gas clouds and the formation of some of the structure in galaxies where magnetic [pressures are known to be in rough 'equipartition' with thermal gas pressure.


Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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