Gravitational wave generation from bubble collisions in first-order phase transitions: An analytic approach

2007/11/30 by Chiara Caprini, Ruth Durrer, Geraldine Servant +1 · 8 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Adiabatic process #Bubble #Classical mechanics #Computational physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Envelope (radar) #Gravitation #Gravitational wave #Mechanics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Phase transition #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Statistical physics #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.77.124015

published as Phys.Rev.D77:124015,2008 · 48 pages, 14 figures. v2 (PRD version): calculation refined; plots redone starting from Fig. 4. Factor 2 in GW energy spectrum corrected. Main conclusions unchanged. v3: Note added at the end of paper to comment on the new results of 0901.1661

openalex publication_date 2008/06/11 · arxiv created 2009/01/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Gravitational wave production from bubble collisions was calculated in the early 1990s using numerical simulations. In this paper, we present an alternative analytic estimate, relying on a different treatment of stochasticity. In our approach, we provide a model for the bubble velocity power spectrum, suitable for both detonations and deflagrations. From this, we derive the anisotropic stress and analytically solve the gravitational wave equation. We provide analytical formulas for the peak frequency and the shape of the spectrum which we compare with numerical estimates. In contrast to the previous analysis, we do not work in the envelope approximation. This paper focuses on a particular source of gravitational waves from phase transitions. In a companion article, we will add together the different sources of gravitational wave signals from phase transitions: bubble collisions, turbulence and magnetic fields and discuss the prospects for probing the electroweak phase transition at LISA.

Citations

• Avoiding an Empty Universe in RS I Models and Large-N Gauge Theories
• Relic backgrounds of gravitational waves from cosmic turbulence
• Gravitational waves from electroweak phase transitions
• Large Mass Hierarchy from a Small Extra Dimension
• Cosmic separation of phases
• Gravitational Wave Production at the End of Inflation
• Gravitational radiation from colliding vacuum bubbles: Envelope approximation to many-bubble collisions
• First‐Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters
• The ubiquitous throat
• Gravitational wave experiments and early universe cosmology
• Gravitational waves from phase transitions at the electroweak scale and beyond
• Gravitational Radiation from Primordial Helical Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence

Cited by

• Abundant production of scalars and axions from phase transition bubble expansion
• Is the NANOGrav signal a hint of dS decay during inflation?
• Energy budget of cosmological first-order phase transitions
• Hydrodynamics of phase transition fronts and the speed of sound in the plasma
• Friction forces on phase transition fronts
• Gravitational radiation from a bulk flow model
• Spherical and non-spherical bubbles in cosmological phase transitions
• Gravitational wave generation in a viable scenario of inflationary magnetogenesis

Related

• Gravitational Waves from Particles Produced from Bubble Collisions in First-Order Phase Transitions
• Gravitational waves from cosmological phase transitions
• Stochastic gravitational waves produced by the first-order QCD phase transition
• Gravitational waves from the sound of a first order phase transition
• Gravity waves from the non-renormalizable Electroweak Vacua phase transition