Equilibration of the chiral asymmetry due to finite electron mass in electron-positron plasma
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Equilibration of the chiral asymmetry due to finite electron mass in electron-positron plasma. / Boyarsky, A.; Cheianov, V. V.; Ruchayskiy, O.; Sobol, O.
In: Physical Review D, Vol. 103, No. 1, 013003, 11.01.2021.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Equilibration of the chiral asymmetry due to finite electron mass in electron-positron plasma
AU - Boyarsky, A.
AU - Cheianov, V. V.
AU - Ruchayskiy, O.
AU - Sobol, O.
PY - 2021/1/11
Y1 - 2021/1/11
N2 - We calculate the rate of collisional decay of the axial charge in an ultrarelativistic electron-positron plasma, also known as the chirality flipping rate. We find that contrary to the existing estimates, the chirality flipping rate appears already in the first order in the fine-structure constant alpha and is therefore orders of magnitude greater than previously believed. The main channels for the rapid relaxation of the axial charge are the collinear emission of a weakly damped photon and the Compton scattering. The latter contributes to the O(alpha) result because of the infrared divergence in its cross section, which is regularized on the soft scale similar to eT due to the thermal corrections. Our results are important for the description of the early Universe processes (such as leptogenesis or magnetogenesis) that affect differently left- and right-chiral fermions of the Standard Model, as discussed in more details in the companion Letter.
AB - We calculate the rate of collisional decay of the axial charge in an ultrarelativistic electron-positron plasma, also known as the chirality flipping rate. We find that contrary to the existing estimates, the chirality flipping rate appears already in the first order in the fine-structure constant alpha and is therefore orders of magnitude greater than previously believed. The main channels for the rapid relaxation of the axial charge are the collinear emission of a weakly damped photon and the Compton scattering. The latter contributes to the O(alpha) result because of the infrared divergence in its cross section, which is regularized on the soft scale similar to eT due to the thermal corrections. Our results are important for the description of the early Universe processes (such as leptogenesis or magnetogenesis) that affect differently left- and right-chiral fermions of the Standard Model, as discussed in more details in the companion Letter.
KW - PRIMORDIAL MAGNETIC-FIELDS
KW - TRANSPORT-COEFFICIENTS
KW - QUASI-PARTICLES
KW - CONDUCTIVITY
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevD.103.013003
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevD.103.013003
M3 - Journal article
VL - 103
JO - Physical Review D
JF - Physical Review D
SN - 2470-0010
IS - 1
M1 - 013003
ER -
ID: 256940100