Probing the Electroweak Sphaleron with Gravitational Waves

TL;DR

This paper explores how gravitational wave signals from a strong electroweak phase transition can be used to probe the sphaleron energy, linking particle physics with gravitational wave astronomy.

Contribution

It establishes a scaling law between sphaleron energies at different temperatures and connects gravitational wave signals to baryon number preservation.

Findings

Future space-based gravitational wave detectors can potentially probe the electroweak sphaleron.

A strong first order electroweak phase transition is necessary for detection.

The relation between sphaleron energy and gravitational waves provides a new observational window.

Abstract

We present the relation between the sphaleron energy and the gravitational wave signals from a first order electroweak phase transition. The crucial ingredient is the scaling law between the sphaleron energy at the temperature of the phase transition and that at zero temperature. We estimate the baryon number preservation criterion, and observe that for a sufficiently strong phase transition, it is possible to probe the electroweak sphaleron using measurements of future space-based gravitational wave detectors.