Saturday, March 16, 2024

Unlocking the secrets of the universe: Preparing for New discoveries in gravitational waves

Seems to be a very interesting survey/review article!

"The review outlines the path from a particle physics model to GWs, which contains many specialized parts, including:
  • building a finite-temperature effective potential in a particle physics model and checking for FOPTs [first-order phase transitions]
  • computing transition rates
  • analyzing the dynamics of bubbles of true vacuum expanding in a thermal plasma
  • characterizing a transition using thermal parameters
  • making predictions for GW spectra using the latest simulations and theoretical results and considering the detectability of predicted spectra at future GW detectors.
..."

From the abstract:
"Gravitational waves (GWs) were recently detected for the first time. This revolutionary discovery opens a new way of learning about particle physics through GWs from first-order phase transitions (FOPTs) in the early Universe. FOPTs could occur when new fundamental symmetries are spontaneously broken down to the Standard Model and are a vital ingredient in solutions of the matter anti-matter asymmetry problem. The purpose of our work is to review the path from a particle physics model to GWs, which contains many specialized parts, so here we provide a timely review of all the required steps, including: (i) building a finite-temperature effective potential in a particle physics model and checking for FOPTs; (ii) computing transition rates; (iii) analyzing the dynamics of bubbles of true vacuum expanding in a thermal plasma; (iv) characterizing a transition using thermal parameters; and, finally, (v) making predictions for GW spectra using the latest simulations and theoretical results and considering the detectability of predicted spectra at future GW detectors. For each step we emphasize the subtleties, advantages and drawbacks of different methods, discuss open questions and review the state-of-art approaches available in the literature. This provides everything a particle physicist needs to begin exploring GW phenomenology."

Unlocking the secrets of the universe: New discoveries in gravitational waves A groundbreaking body of work led by Monash University physicists has opened a new pathway for understanding the universe's fundamental physics.

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