Gravitational Waves from Electroweak Phase Transitions

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the potential for gravitational waves generated during electroweak phase transitions in supersymmetric models to be detected by LISA, highlighting their connection to baryogenesis.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of gravitational wave production in supersymmetric models with first-order electroweak phase transitions, predicting detectable signals within LISA's sensitivity.

Findings

Gravitational wave signals could reach h0^2 Omega_{gw} of 10^{-10} - 10^{-11}

Turbulence may produce signals at h0^2 Omega_{gw}  10^{-9}

Signals are linked to regions explaining baryon asymmetry

Abstract

Gravitational waves are generated during first-order phase transitions, either by turbolence or by bubble collisions. If the transition takes place at temperatures of the order of the electroweak scale, the frequency of these gravitational waves is today just within the band of the planned space interferometer LISA. We present a detailed analysis of the production of gravitational waves during an electroweak phase transition in different supersymmetric models where, contrary to the case of the Standard Model, the transition can be first order. We find that the stochastic background of gravitational waves generated by bubble nucleation can reach a maximum value h0^2 Omega_{gw} of order 10^{-10} - 10^{-11}, which is within the reach of the planned sensitivity of LISA, while turbolence can even produce signals at the level h0^2 Omega_{gw} \sim 10^{-9}. These values of h0^2 Omega_{gw} are obtained in the regions of the parameter space which can account for the generation of the baryon asymmetry at the electroweak scale.