Electroweak Baryogenesis from Collapsing Domain Walls

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new electroweak baryogenesis mechanism using collapsing axion-like domain walls, which generate baryon asymmetry and produce a unique gravitational wave signature.

Contribution

It proposes replacing bubble walls with collapsing domain walls from an axion-like field to explain baryogenesis and gravitational wave signals.

Findings

Achieves observed baryon asymmetry via domain wall collapse.

Predicts a distinctive gravitational-wave spectrum.

Demonstrates compatibility with weakly broken electroweak domain.

Abstract

We propose a novel mechanism for electroweak baryogenesis in which collapsing domain walls formed by an axion-like field replace the bubble walls in a strong first-order electroweak phase transition. The axion-like particle coupling to the Higgs mass term allows domain walls to separate regions with distinct electroweak phases, while the electroweak crossover induces a potential-energy bias that triggers their collapse. The directed wall motion, through the axion-like particle coupling to the electroweak topological term, acts as an effective baryon chemical potential and generates an asymmetry via electroweak sphaleron processes. We show that the observed baryon asymmetry can be obtained from either late-time entropy injection or sphaleron suppression in a weakly broken electroweak domain. The wall collapse also produces a stochastic gravitational-wave background with features distinct from standard electroweak-scale first-order-transition spectra.