Can electroweak bubble walls run away?

2009/03/31 by Dietrich Bodeker, Guy D. Moore · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #hep-ph #astro-ph.CO

paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2009/05/009

published as JCAP 0905:009,2009 · references added

arxiv created 2009/07/31 · arxiv updated 2014/11/18

Abstract

In extensions of the Standard Model with SU(2) singlet scalar fields, there can be regions of parameter space for which the electroweak phase transition is first order already at the mean-field level of analysis. We show that in this case the phase interface (bubble wall) can become ultra-relativistic, with the relativistic gamma factor gamma = (1-v_wall²)^-1/2 growing linearly with the wall's propagation distance. We provide a simple criterion for determining whether the bubble wall "runs away" in this way or if gamma approaches a terminal value.

Cited by

• Abundant production of scalars and axions from phase transition bubble expansion
• Electroweak Phase Transition and Bubble Wall Velocity in Local Thermal Equilibrium
• The Discriminant Power of Bubble Wall Velocities: Gravitational Waves and Electroweak Baryogenesis
• Bubble wall velocity from Kadanoff-Baym equations: fluid dynamics and microscopic interactions

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• Electroweak Phase Transition and Bubble Wall Velocity in Local Thermal Equilibrium
• Bubble expansion and the viability of singlet-driven electroweak baryogenesis
• Velocity of electroweak bubble walls
• Bubble wall velocity beyond leading-log approximation in electroweak phase transition