Related papers: Cosmological Phase Transitions
We study the quark-hadron phase transition within an effective model of QCD, and find that in a reasonable range of the main parameters of the model, bodies with quark content between $10^{-2}$ and 10 solar masses can have been formed in…
In order to account for the observable Universe, any comprehensive theory or model of cosmology must draw from many disciplines of physics, including gauge theories of strong and weak interactions, the hydrodynamics and microphysics of…
Recent results from linear perturbation theory suggest that first-order cosmological quark-hadron phase transitions occurring as deflagrations may be ``borderline'' unstable, and those occurring as detonations may give rise to growing modes…
We investigate the process of phase conversion in a thermally-driven {\it weakly} first-order quark-hadron transition. This scenario is physically appealing even if the nature of this transition in equilibrium proves to be a smooth…
We discuss the cosmological consequences of QCD phase transition(s) on the early universe. We argue that our recent knowledge about the transport properties of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) should throw additional lights on the actual time…
Topological defects are thought to be left behind by the cosmological phase transitions which occur as the universe expands and cools. Similar processes can be studied in the phase transitions which take place in the laboratory:…
In this work, the quark-hadron phase transition in a chameleon Brans-Dicke model of brane world cosmology within an effective model of QCD is investigated. Whereas, in the chameleon Brans-Dicke model of brane world cosmology, the Friedmann…
The QCD phase diagram might exhibit a first order phase transition for large baryochemical potentials. We explore the cosmological implications of such a QCD phase transition in the early universe. We propose that the large baryon-asymmetry…
First-order cosmological phase transitions (PT) can take place in a dark sector at relatively late times between the big-bang nucleosynthesis and recombination epochs. Because bubble nucleation is stochastic, the PT completes at different…
Some recent developments concerning the role of strange quark matter for astrophysical systems and the QCD phase transition in the early universe are addressed. Causality constraints of the soft nuclear equation of state as extracted from…
Electroweak baryogenesis may solve one of the most fundamental questions we can ask about the universe, that of the origin of matter. It has become clear in the past few years that it also poses a multi-faceted challenge. In order to…
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…
In brane world scenarios the Friedmann equation is modified, resulting in an increased expansion at early times. This has important effects on cosmological phase transitions which we investigate, elucidating significant differences to the…
I review in this chapter several classes of quantum phase transitions that occur in quasi-one dimensional systems. I start by examining the simple case of coupled spin chains and ladders, then move to the case of bosons, and finally deal…
The scenario that some first-order phase transitions may have taken place in the early Universe offers us one of the most intriguing and fascinating questions in cosmology. Indeed, the role played by the latent "heat" or energy released in…
In the standard picture of cosmology it is predicted that a phase transition, associated with chiral symmetry breaking after the electroweak transition, has occurred at approximately 10 \mu seconds after the Big Bang to convert a plasma of…
Various phase transitions could have taken place in the early Universe, and may occur in the course of heavy-ion collisions and supernova explosions, in proto-neutron stars, cold compact stars, and in the condensed matter at terrestrial…
A standard picture in cosmology has been emerging over the past decade in which a phase transition, associated with chiral symmetry breaking after the electroweak transition, has occurred at approximately $10^{-6}$ seconds after the Big…
We summarise the physics of first-order phase transitions in the early universe, and the possible ways in which they might come about. We then focus on gravitational waves, emphasising general qualitative features of stochastic backgrounds…
A mechanism for generating metric perturbations in inflationary models is considered. Long-wavelength inhomogeneities of light scalar fields in a decoupled sector may give rise to superhorizon fluctuations of couplings and masses in the…