Collision Integrals for Cosmological Phase Transitions

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new spectral method to accurately compute collision integrals in Boltzmann equations, improving the modeling of particle distributions during cosmological phase transitions and their gravitational wave signatures.

Contribution

A novel spectral method for fast, reliable calculation of collision integrals in Boltzmann equations during cosmological phase transitions.

Findings

Determined bubble speed and profile in a scalar singlet extension of the Standard Model.

Assessed the impact of out-of-equilibrium dynamics on phase transition characteristics.

Validated the efficiency and accuracy of the new computational algorithm.

Abstract

The dynamics of the true-vacuum bubbles nucleated during a first-order phase transition is affected by the distribution functions of the particle species in the plasma, driven out-of-equilibrium by the travelling domain wall. An accurate modelling of this phenomenon is relevant for a quantitative description of phase transitions in the early universe and for the determination of the corresponding cosmic relics, such as, among the others, the stochastic background of gravitational waves. We address this problem by developing a new spectral method devised for a fast and reliable computation of the collision integral in the Boltzmann equations. In a scalar singlet extension of the Standard Model chosen as a benchmark scenario, we test our algorithm, determining the bubble speed and profile, and we asses the impact of the out-of-equilibrium dynamics.