2016/11/28 by Ariel Megevand, Ariel Mégevand, Santiago Ramirez +1
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Bubble #Classical nucleation theory #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Exponential growth #Gaussian #Limit (mathematics) #Mathematical analysis #Mathematics #Mechanics #Metastability #Nucleation #Phase (matter) #Phase transition #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Statistical physics #Supercooling #Thermodynamics #astro-ph.CO
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2017.03.009
40 pages, 11 figures. v2: several comments and references added
arxiv created 2016/11/28 · openalex publication_date 2017/03/19 · arxiv updated 2017/04/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Strongly first-order phase transitions, i.e., those with a large order parameter, are characterized by a considerable supercooling and high velocities of phase transition fronts. A very strong phase transition may have important cosmological consequences due to the departures from equilibrium caused in the plasma. In general, there is a limit to the strength, since the metastability of the old phase may prevent the transition to complete. Near this limit, the bubble nucleation rate achieves a maximum and thus departs from the widely assumed behavior in which it grows exponentially with time. We study the dynamics of this kind of phase transitions. We show that in some cases a gaussian approximation for the nucleation rate is more suitable, and in such a case we solve analytically the evolution of the phase transition. We compare the gaussian and exponential approximations with realistic cases and we determine their ranges of validity. We also discuss the implications for cosmic remnants such as gravitational waves.