English

Electroweak Phase Transition and Bubble Wall Velocity in Local Thermal Equilibrium

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2025-08-07 v2 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

The dynamics of the electroweak phase transition in the early universe has profound implications for cosmology and particle physics. We systematically study the steady-state dynamics of bubble walls in scenarios where the transition is first order within three representative beyond the Standard Model frameworks, characterised by the presence of an additional scalar in different electroweak representations. Focusing on the local thermal equilibrium regime, we numerically solve the coupled scalar and hydrodynamic equations to extract key properties of the phase transition front: the wall velocity, width, plasma and field profiles. Remarkably, we find a near-universal behaviour across models when expressed in terms of thermodynamic quantities, that can be captured by simple fitting functions, useful for phenomenological applications. These results also provide an upper bound on the bubble velocity and represent the first necessary step for the full inclusion of out-of-equilibrium effects.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2504.21213,
  title  = {Electroweak Phase Transition and Bubble Wall Velocity in Local Thermal Equilibrium},
  author = {Carlo Branchina and Angela Conaci and Stefania De Curtis and Luigi Delle Rose},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.21213},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

45 pages, 21 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-28T23:16:05.723Z