Dynamics of bubbles in general relativity

Abstract

This is a systematic study of the evolution of thin shell bubbles in general relativity. We develop the general thin-wall formalism first elaborated by Israel and apply it to the investigation of the motion of various bubbles arising in the course of phase transitions in the very early Universe including new phase bubbles, old phase remnants, and domains. We consider metric junction conditions and derive constraints both on the decay of metastable states and on the evolution of non- equilibrium scalar field configurations (fluctuations) following from the global geometry of spacetime.