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Main Authors: Dutka, Tomasz P., Jung, Tae Hyun, Shin, Chang Sub
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.15864
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author Dutka, Tomasz P.
Jung, Tae Hyun
Shin, Chang Sub
author_facet Dutka, Tomasz P.
Jung, Tae Hyun
Shin, Chang Sub
contents We explore the nature of a certain type of supercooled phase transition, where the supercooling is guaranteed to end due to the curvature of the finite-temperature effective potential at the origin experiencing a sign flip at some temperature. In such models the potential barrier trapping the scalar field at the meta-stable origin is quickly vanishing at the temperature scale of the phase transition. It is therefore not immediately clear if critical bubbles are able to form, or whether the field will simply transition over the barrier and smoothly roll down to the true minimum. To address this question, we perform lattice simulations of a scalar potential exhibiting supercooling, with a small barrier around the origin, and qualitatively determine the fate of the phase transition. Our simulations indicate that, owing to the required flatness of the potential, the scalar field remains trapped around the origin such that the phase transition generically proceeds via the nucleation and expansion of true-vacuum bubbles. We comment on the possible gravitational wave signals one might expect in a concrete toy model and discuss the parameter space in which bubble percolation is and isn't expected. Animated versions of Figures 6 through 9 can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhT9Np0-FMHBjkejei0bb9qbxbWKHAUXf
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_15864
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle What happens when supercooling is terminated by curvature flipping of the effective potential?
Dutka, Tomasz P.
Jung, Tae Hyun
Shin, Chang Sub
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
We explore the nature of a certain type of supercooled phase transition, where the supercooling is guaranteed to end due to the curvature of the finite-temperature effective potential at the origin experiencing a sign flip at some temperature. In such models the potential barrier trapping the scalar field at the meta-stable origin is quickly vanishing at the temperature scale of the phase transition. It is therefore not immediately clear if critical bubbles are able to form, or whether the field will simply transition over the barrier and smoothly roll down to the true minimum. To address this question, we perform lattice simulations of a scalar potential exhibiting supercooling, with a small barrier around the origin, and qualitatively determine the fate of the phase transition. Our simulations indicate that, owing to the required flatness of the potential, the scalar field remains trapped around the origin such that the phase transition generically proceeds via the nucleation and expansion of true-vacuum bubbles. We comment on the possible gravitational wave signals one might expect in a concrete toy model and discuss the parameter space in which bubble percolation is and isn't expected. Animated versions of Figures 6 through 9 can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhT9Np0-FMHBjkejei0bb9qbxbWKHAUXf
title What happens when supercooling is terminated by curvature flipping of the effective potential?
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.15864