Effective Theories for Hot Non-Abelian Dynamics

The dynamics of soft ($|\vec{p}|\sim g^2 T$) non-Abelian gauge fields at finite temperature is non-perturbative. The effective theory for the soft fields can be obtained by first integrating out the momentum scale T, which yields the well known hard thermal loop effective theory. Then the latter is used to integrate out the scale gT. One obtains a Boltzmann equation, which can be solved in a leading logarithmic approximation. The resulting effective theory for the soft fields is described by a Langevin equation, and it is well suited for non-perturbative lattice simulations.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures; plenary talk given at Conference on Strong and Electroweak Matter (SEWM 98), Copenhagen, Denmark, 2-5 Dec 199

Diagrammatic approach to soft non-Abelian dynamics at high temperature

The dynamics of soft ($|\vec{p}|\sim g^2 T$) non-Abelian gauge fields at finite temperature is non-perturbative. The effective theory for the soft scale is determined by diagrams with external momenta p_0\lsim g^2 T, $|\vec{p}|\sim g^2 T$ and loop momenta larger than $g^2 T$. We consider the polarization tensor beyond the hard thermal loop approximation, which accounts for loop momenta of order $T$. There are higher loop diagrams, involving also the scale $gT$, which are as important as the hard thermal loops. These higher loop contributions are characteristic for non-Abelian gauge theories and their calculation is simplified by using the hard thermal loop effective theory. Remarkably, the effective one-loop polarization tensor is found to be gauge fixing independent and transverse at leading order in $g$. The transversality indicates that this approach leads to a gauge invariant effective theory.Comment: 23 pages, latex, 4 figures, uses axodraw.sty; discussion of higher loop contributions and of their relation to the Boltzmann equation (Sect. 5) added, several references added, to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Equilibration of right-handed electrons

We study the equilibration of right-handed electrons in the symmetric phase of the Standard Model. Due to the smallness of the electron Yukawa coupling, it happens relatively late in the history of the Universe. We compute the equilibration rate at leading order in the Standard Model couplings, by including gauge interactions, the top Yukawa- and the Higgs self-interaction. The dominant contribution is due to $2 \to 2$ particle scattering, even though the rate of (inverse) Higgs decays is strongly enhanced by multiple soft scattering which is included by Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal (LPM) resummation. Our numerical result is substantially larger than approximations presented in previous literature.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figures. v2: Added appendix estimating the conversion of right-handed electron number into hypermagnetic fields through the chiral anomaly. References added, minor errors corrected, results and conclusions unchanged, published versio

An effective theory for hot non-Abelian dynamics

I try to explain some recent progress in understanding the non-perturbative dynamics of hot non-Abelian gauge theories. The non-perturbative physics is due to soft spatial momenta $|\vec{p}|\sim g^2 T$ where $g$ is the gauge coupling and $T$ is the temperature. An effective theory for the soft field modes is obtained by integrating out the field modes with momenta of order $T$ and of order $g T$ in a leading logarithmic approximation. In this effective theory the time evolution of the soft fields is determined by a local Langevin-type equation. This effective theory determines the parametric form of the rate for hot electroweak baryon number violation as $\Gamma = \kappa g^{10} \log(1/g) T^4$. The non-perturbative coefficient $\kappa$ is independent of the gauge coupling and it can be computed by solving the effective equations of motion on a lattice.Comment: 10 pages, revtex, Talk presented at the 5th International Workshop on Thermal Field Theories and their Applications, Regensburg, Germany, August 199

QCD plasma instability and thermalisation at heavy ion collisions

Under suitable non-equilibrium conditions QCD plasma can develop plasma instabilities, where some modes of the plasma grow exponentially. It has been argued that these instabilities can play a significant role in the thermalisation of the plasma in heavy-ion collision experiments. We study the instability in SU(2) plasmas using the hard thermal loop effective lattice theory, which is suitable for studying real-time evolution of long wavelength modes in the plasma. We observe that under suitable conditions the plasma can indeed develop an instability which can grow to a very large magnitude, necessary for the rapid thermalisation in heavy-ion collisions.Comment: 7 pages, contribution to Lattice 2007, Regensburg, Germany, 30 July - 4 August 200

Can electroweak bubble walls run away?

In extensions of the Standard Model with SU(2) singlet scalar fields, there can be regions of parameter space for which the electroweak phase transition is first order already at the mean-field level of analysis. We show that in this case the phase interface (bubble wall) can become ultra-relativistic, with the relativistic gamma factor gamma = (1-v_{wall}^2)^{-1/2} growing linearly with the wall's propagation distance. We provide a simple criterion for determining whether the bubble wall "runs away" in this way or if gamma approaches a terminal value.Comment: references adde

The Baryon asymmetry in the Standard Model with a low cut-off

We study the generation of the baryon asymmetry in a variant of the standard model, where the Higgs field is stabilized by a dimension-six interaction. Analyzing the one-loop potential, we find a strong first order electroweak phase transition for Higgs masses up to at least 170 GeV. Dimension-six operators induce also new sources of CP violation. We compute the baryon asymmetry in the WKB approximation. Novel source terms in the transport equations enhance the generated baryon asymmetry. For a wide range of parameters the model predicts a baryon asymmetry close to the observed value.Comment: 22 pages, latex, 6 figure

Phase Space Description of the Leading Order Quark and Gluon Production from a Space-Time Dependent Chromofield

We derive source terms for the production of quarks and gluons from the QCD vacuum in the presence of a space-time dependent external chromofield A_{cl} to the order of S^{(1)}. We found that the source terms for the parton production processes A_{cl} -> q\bar{q} and A_{cl},A_{cl}A_{cl} -> gg also include the annihilation processes q\bar{q} -> A_{cl} and gg -> A_{cl},A_{cl}A_{cl}. The source terms we derive are applicable for the description of the production of partons with momentum p larger rhan gA which itself must be larger than \Lambda_{QCD}. We observe that these source terms for the production of partons from a space-time dependent chromofield can be used to study the production and equilibration of the quark-gluon plasma during the very early stages of an ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collision.Comment: 30 pages latex (single spaced), 7 eps figures, Revised Version, To appear in Physical Review

Baryogenesis from the weak scale to the grand unification scale

We review the current status of baryogenesis with emphasis on electroweak baryogenesis and leptogenesis. The first detailed studies were carried out for SU(5) GUT models where CP-violating decays of leptoquarks generate a baryon asymmetry. These GUT models were excluded by the discovery of B+L violating sphaleron processes at high temperatures. Yet a new possibility emerged, electroweak baryogenesis. Here sphaleron processes generate a baryon asymmetry during a strongly first-order phase transition. This mechanism has been studied in many extensions of the Standard Model. However, constraints from the LHC and from low-energy precision experiments exclude most of the known models, leaving composite Higgs models of electroweak symmetry breaking as an interesting possibility. Sphaleron processes are also the basis of leptogenesis, where CP-violating decays of heavy right-handed neutrinos generate a lepton asymmetry which is partially converted to a baryon asymmetry. This mechanism is closely related to the one of GUT baryogenesis, and simple estimates based on GUT models can explain the order of magnitude of the observed baryon-to-photon ratio. In the one-flavour approximation an upper bound on the light neutrino masses has been derived which is consistent with the cosmological upper bound on the sum of neutrino masses. For quasi-degenerate right-handed neutrinos the leptogenesis temperature can be lowered from the GUT scale down to the weak scale, and CP-violating oscillations of GeV sterile neutinos can also lead to successfull leptogenesis. Significant progress has been made in developing a full field theoretical description of thermal leptogenesis, which demonstrated that interactions with gauge bosons of the thermal plasma play a crucial role. Finally, we discuss recent ideas how the seesaw mechanism and B-L breaking at the GUT scale can be probed by gravitational waves.Comment: 48 pages, 33 figures, 2 tables; a few more correction