Detecting gravitational waves from cosmological phase transitions with LISA: an update

TL;DR

This paper assesses LISA's capability to detect gravitational waves from cosmological phase transitions, updating previous analyses with recent simulations, models, and a new web tool for detection prospects.

Contribution

It provides an updated analysis of gravitational wave detection prospects from phase transitions with LISA, incorporating recent simulations, clarifying misconceptions, and introducing the PTPlot tool.

Findings

LISA can potentially detect gravitational waves from certain phase transitions.

The paper clarifies misconceptions about gravitational wave sources.

The PTPlot tool offers accessible detection prospects for various models.

Abstract

We investigate the potential for observing gravitational waves from cosmological phase transitions with LISA in light of recent theoretical and experimental developments. Our analysis is based on current state-of-the-art simulations of sound waves in the cosmic fluid after the phase transition completes. We discuss the various sources of gravitational radiation, the underlying parameters describing the phase transition and a variety of viable particle physics models in this context, clarifying common misconceptions that appear in the literature and identifying open questions requiring future study. We also present a web-based tool, PTPlot, that allows users to obtain up-to-date detection prospects for a given set of phase transition parameters at LISA.