Gravitational effects upon cosmological phase transitions
The effects of spacetime curvature upon phase transitions in an expanding universe are investigated. We consider a Robertson-Walker model which is a radiation-dominated universe at early times and becomes de Sitter space at later times. In this universe the stability of a field theory containing a pair of interacting scalar fields is studied in first-order perturbation theory. It is noted that the crucial quantity in the stability analysis is , where phi is a free scalar field. The behavior of as a function of time is investigated, where both thermal and vacuum contributions are taken into account. It is shown that this behavior can be strongly affected by the coupling to the background gravitational field. Such coupling can cause to decrease more slowly or even grow as the Universe expands. This behavior can alter the evolution of the system and can result in either stabilization of an otherwise unstable field configuration or destabilization of an otherwise stable configuration.
- Research Organization:
- Department of Physics, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155
- OSTI ID:
- 6717845
- Journal Information:
- Phys. Rev. D; (United States), Vol. 26:6
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
GRAVITATIONAL FIELDS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
FIELD THEORIES
PERTURBATION THEORY
SCALAR FIELDS
SPACE-TIME
VACUUM STATES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
640106* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Cosmology
645400 - High Energy Physics- Field Theory