Towards the theory of the electroweak phase transition

Journal Article · Wed Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 1992 · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.46.550· OSTI ID:7106686

Dine, M; Leigh, R G ^[1]; Huet, P ^[2]; Linde, A ^[3]; Linde, D ^[4]

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1. Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064 (United States)
2. Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94309 (United States)
3. Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305 (United States)
4. Gunn High School, Palo Alto, California 94305 (United States)

We investigate various problems related to the theory of the electroweak phase transition. This includes determination of the nature of the phase transition, discussion of the possible role of the higher-order radiative corrections, and the theory of the formation and evolution of bubbles of the new phase. We show, in particular, that no dangerous linear terms in the scalar field {phi} appear in the expression for the effective potential. We have found that, for the Higgs-boson mass smaller than the masses of {ital W} and {ital Z} bosons, the phase transition is of the first order. However, its strength is approximately 2/3 times less than what follows from the one-loop approximation. The phase transition occurs due to production and expansion of critical bubbles. Subcritical bubbles may be important only if the phase transition is very weakly first order. A general analytic expression for the probability of the bubble formation is obtained, which may be used for study of tunneling in a wide class of theories. The bubble-wall velocity depends on many factors, including the ratio of the mean free path of the particles to the thickness of the wall. Thin walls in the electroweak theory have a nonrelativistic velocity, whereas thick walls may be relativistic. A decrease of the cubic term by the factor 2/3 rules our baryogenesis in the minimal version of the electroweak theory. Even though we concentrate in this paper on the phase transition in this theory, most of our results can be applied to more general models as well, where baryogenesis is possible.

• OSTI ID: 7106686
• Journal Information: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Vol. 46:2; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
HIGGS BOSONS
MASS
UNIVERSE
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
BARYON NUMBER
CP INVARIANCE
GAUGE INVARIANCE
GRAND UNIFIED THEORY
RADIATIVE CORRECTIONS
SCALAR FIELDS
VACUUM STATES
W MINUS BOSONS
W PLUS BOSONS
WEINBERG-SALAM GAUGE MODEL
Z NEUTRAL BOSONS
BOSONS
CORRECTIONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FIELD THEORIES
INTERMEDIATE BOSONS
INTERMEDIATE VECTOR BOSONS
INVARIANCE PRINCIPLES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
PARTICLE MODELS
POSTULATED PARTICLES
UNIFIED GAUGE MODELS
UNIFIED-FIELD THEORIES
662110* - General Theory of Particles & Fields- Theory of Fields & Strings- (1992-)
662120 - General Theory of Particles & Fields- Symmetry
Conservation Laws
Currents & Their Properties- (1992-)