Nucleation at finite temperature: a gauge-invariant, perturbative framework

TL;DR

This paper introduces a gauge-invariant, perturbative method for calculating bubble nucleation rates at finite temperature, crucial for understanding phase transitions in particle physics and cosmology.

Contribution

It develops a practical, gauge-invariant framework for computing nucleation rates in theories with radiative symmetry breaking at high temperature.

Findings

Provides a consistent high-temperature expansion approach

Enables calculation of nucleation temperature and rates

Applicable to electroweak baryogenesis and gravitational wave predictions

Abstract

We present a gauge-invariant framework for bubble nucleation in theories with radiative symmetry breaking at high temperature. As a procedure, this perturbative framework establishes a practical, gauge-invariant computation of the leading order nucleation rate, based on a consistent power counting in the high-temperature expansion. In model building and particle phenomenology, this framework has applications such as the computation of the bubble nucleation temperature and the rate for electroweak baryogenesis and gravitational wave signals from cosmic phase transitions.