2021/04/30 by Yago Bea, Jorge Casalderrey-Solana, Thanasis Giannakopoulos +3 · 5 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Bubble #Classical mechanics #Condensed matter physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Gas bubble #Gauge (firearms) #Holography #Materials science #Mechanics #Nucleation #Optics #Perfect fluid #Phase (matter) #Phase transition #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Thermodynamics #astro-ph.CO #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · open access · doi:10.1103/physrevd.104.l121903
published in Physical review. D/Physical review. D. 104(12) (American Physical Society) · 6 pages, 9 figures. Matches published version in PRD
openalex publication_date 2021/12/17 · arxiv created 2022/03/17 · arxiv updated 2022/03/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Cosmological phase transitions proceed via the nucleation of bubbles that subsequently expand and collide. The resulting gravitational wave spectrum depends crucially on the bubble wall velocity. Microscopic calculations of this velocity are challenging even in weakly coupled theories. We use holography to compute the wall velocity from first principles in a strongly coupled, non-Abelian, four-dimensional gauge theory. The wall velocity is determined dynamically in terms of the nucleation temperature. We find an approximately linear relation between the velocity and the ratio ΔP/E, with ΔP the pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the bubble and E the energy density outside the bubble. Up to a rescaling, the wall profile is well approximated by that of an equilibrium, phase-separated configuration at the critical temperature. We verify that ideal hydrodynamics provides a good description of the system everywhere except near the wall.