Related papers: The background field method applied to cosmologica…
In this proceedings contribution we discuss the fate of the electroweak and the quantum chromodynamics phase transitions relevant for the early stage of the universe at non-zero temperature. These phase transitions are related to the Higgs…
In this lecture at a school for condensed matter physicists, I begin with basic concepts and tools for investigating phase transitions in quantum field theory. The very different roles of global and gauge symmetries in phase transitions…
During the past two decades, cosmologists turned to particle physics in order to explore the physics of the very early Universe. The main link between the physics of the smallest and largest structures in the Universe is the idea of…
The study of cosmic phase transitions are of central interest in modern cosmology. In the standard model of cosmology the Universe begins in a very hot state, right after at the end of inflation via the process of reheating/preheating, and…
Techniques of zero-temperature field theory that have found application in the analysis of field theory at finite temperature are revisited. Specifically, several of the results that are discussed are relevant to the study of…
We consider first-order phase transitions of the Universe in the radiation-dominated era. We argue that in general the velocity of interfaces is non-relativistic due to the interaction with the plasma and the release of latent heat. We…
Nuclear matter at finite temperature and barion density exhibits several phase transitions that could happen at the early stages of the Universe evolution and could be realized in heavy-ion or hadron-hadron collisions. Microscopic…
To optimally utilize all the exciting cosmological data coming in we need to sharpen also the theoretical tools available to cosmologists. One such indispensible tool to understand hot big bang cosmology is finite temperature field theory.…
The theory of false vacuum decay in a thermal system may have a cross-over from predominantly thermal transitions to quantum transitions as the temperature is decreased. New numerical methods and results are presented here that can be used…
The dynamics of phase transitions plays a crucial r\^ole in the so-called interface between high energy particle physics and cosmology. Many of the interesting results generated during the last fifteen years or so rely on simplified…
We discuss here phase transitions in quantum field theory in the context of vacuum realignment through an explicit construction. Vacuum destabilisation may occur through a scalar attaining a nonzero expectation value, or through a…
In the first one of these two lectures, I give an introductory review of phase transitions in finite temperature field theories. I highlight the differences between theories with global and local symmetries, and the similarities between…
The primary objective of this work is to investigate the cosmological phase transitions in the early Universe, with a focus on the electroweak phase transition in the Standard Model and its extensions. In the Standard Model, the…
Bubble collisions in cosmological phase transitions are explored, taking the non-abelian character of the gauge fields into account. Both the QCD and electroweak phase transitions are considered. Numerical solutions of the field equations…
We study first order phase transitions that occur when the temperature of the system increases and we identify the conditions that lead to super-heating, a phase where the system can heat up arbitrarily. First order phase transitions with…
First-order phase transitions produce gravitational waves and primordial black holes. They always occur in field theories where symmetries are radiatively broken and masses are correspondingly generated. These theories predict a period of…
We introduce a new model of background independent physics in which the degrees of freedom live on a complete graph and the physics is invariant under the permutations of all the points. We argue that the model has a low energy phase in…
The sequence of phase transitions during the hot history of the universe is followed within a phenomenological framework. Particular emphasis is put on the QCD confinement transition, which is at reach under earth laboratory conditions. A…
Cosmological phase transitions accompanied by some kind of symmetry breaking would cause the creation of topological defects and the resulting production of primordial magnetic field. Moreover, such a procedure inevitably affects the cosmic…
Symmetry-breaking phase transitions are ubiquitous in condensed matter systems and in quantum field theories. There is also good reason to believe that they feature in the very early history of the Universe. At many such transitions…