Matter power spectrum induced by primordial magnetic fields: from the linear to the non-linear regime

Abstract Linear theory predicts that primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) enhance the matter power spectrum on small scales. However, the linear approximation breaks down on sufficiently small scales where PMF-induced baryon perturbations back-react onto the magnetic fields. Previous studies assumed that the baryon power spectrum would be sharply suppressed in this non-linear regime, based on arguments related to the magnetic Jeans scale. For the first time, we perform dedicated magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to investigate the transition from the linear to the non-linear regime. Our simulations confirm the expected linear behavior on large scales. In the non-linear regime, however, we find that the dimensionless baryon power spectrum saturates to an 𝒪(1) value, which contrasts with previous analytical expectations. Additionally, our results show that several past studies overestimated the total matter power spectrum by orders of magnitude near the transition to non-linearity. Thus, the results presented in this work are useful to obtain more accurate constraints on PMFs from structure formation processes and/or different tracers of cosmic structures.