3-D lattice simulation of the electroweak phase transition at small Higgs mass

TL;DR

This paper uses 3D lattice simulations to study the electroweak phase transition at a small Higgs mass, revealing non-perturbative effects on the transition temperature and providing detailed mass and force measurements.

Contribution

It presents the first non-perturbative lattice analysis of the electroweak phase transition at a Higgs mass around 35 GeV, including bound state and force calculations.

Findings

Consistent Higgs condensate and mass results with 2-loop perturbation theory

Non-perturbative lowering of the transition temperature observed

Determination of bound state masses and static force in the symmetric phase

Abstract

We study the electroweak phase transition by lattice simulations of an effective 3-dimensional theory, for a Higgs mass of about $35 GeV$. In the broken symmetry phase our results on masses and the Higgs condensate are consistent with 2-loop perturbative results. However, we find a non-perturbative lowering of the transition temperature, similar to the one previously found at $m_H = 80 GeV$. For the symmetric phase, bound state masses and the static force are determined and compared with results for pure $SU(2)$ theory.