Testing nucleation theory in two dimensions

TL;DR

This paper investigates bubble nucleation rates in two-dimensional scalar theories at high temperature using a coarse-grained potential approach, validating results against lattice simulations and establishing applicability criteria.

Contribution

It introduces a method based on a real coarse-grained potential to calculate nucleation rates and compares these with lattice data, demonstrating good agreement under certain conditions.

Findings

Good agreement with lattice data when renormalized action is known

Applicability region of the method is defined by internal consistency

Method effectively estimates nucleation rates in 2D scalar theories

Abstract

We calculate bubble-nucleation rates for (2+1)-dimensional scalar theories at high temperature. Our approach is based on the notion of a real coarse-grained potential. The region of applicability of our method is determined through internal consistency criteria. We compare our results with data from lattice simulations. Good agreement is observed when the renormalized action of the simulated theory is known.