Nucleation and bubble growth in a first-order cosmological electroweak phase transition

Abstract

We study the kinetics of first-order cosmological phase transitions assuming a four-parameter form for the Higgs potential driving the transition. This leads to a phenomenological equation of state for electroweak matter with a stable high-$T$ phase for $T>{T}_{c}$ and a low-$T$ phase for $T<{T}_{c}$. The nucleation probability of low-$T$ bubbles, both critical and subcritical, is computed and their growth and coalescence is simulated. We show that they can grow as deflagrations and that detonations are unlikely. Possible front velocities and entropy production are studied. The results are applied to parameter values conjectured for the electroweak phase transition and compared with those obtained for the quark\ensuremath{\rightarrow}hadron phase transition.