Entropy production at electroweak bubble walls from scalar field fluctuations

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Eriksson, M., Laine, M.
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2025
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author Eriksson, M.
Laine, M.
author_facet Eriksson, M.
Laine, M.
contents The real-time dynamics of an electroweak phase transition involves large time and distance scales, the domain of hydrodynamics. However, the matching conditions of ideal hydrodynamics across a bubble wall do not fix the fluid profile completely, with the remaining degree of freedom parametrizable through entropy production. Within a framework of Langevin dynamics, viewed as an effective description valid between the hydrodynamic ($k \sim g^4_{ } T/π^3_{ }$) and soft momentum scales ($k \sim gT$), we determine the entropy production originating from scalar field fluctuations. The entropy discontinuity is shown to remain non-vanishing when the friction coefficient is sent to zero, in apparent violation of the ``local thermal equilibrium'' (LTE) framework. To confirm the finding, we identify its origin within Boltzmann equations, as being part of the $1\to 1$ force associated with the ``ballistic'' regime. The result implies that LTE-based upper bounds on the wall velocity cannot be saturated.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_07755
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Entropy production at electroweak bubble walls from scalar field fluctuations
Eriksson, M.
Laine, M.
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
The real-time dynamics of an electroweak phase transition involves large time and distance scales, the domain of hydrodynamics. However, the matching conditions of ideal hydrodynamics across a bubble wall do not fix the fluid profile completely, with the remaining degree of freedom parametrizable through entropy production. Within a framework of Langevin dynamics, viewed as an effective description valid between the hydrodynamic ($k \sim g^4_{ } T/π^3_{ }$) and soft momentum scales ($k \sim gT$), we determine the entropy production originating from scalar field fluctuations. The entropy discontinuity is shown to remain non-vanishing when the friction coefficient is sent to zero, in apparent violation of the ``local thermal equilibrium'' (LTE) framework. To confirm the finding, we identify its origin within Boltzmann equations, as being part of the $1\to 1$ force associated with the ``ballistic'' regime. The result implies that LTE-based upper bounds on the wall velocity cannot be saturated.
title Entropy production at electroweak bubble walls from scalar field fluctuations
topic High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.07755