2 research outputs found
Inhomogeneous Field Configurations and the Electroweak Phase Transition
We investigate the effects of inhomogeneous scalar field configurations on
the electroweak phase transition. For this purpose we calculate the leading
perturbative correction to the wave function correction term Z(\vph,T), i.e.,
the kinetic term in the effective action, for the electroweak Standard Model at
finite temperature and the top quark self--mass. Our finding for the fermionic
contribution to Z(\vph,T) is infra--red finite and disagrees with other
recent results. In general, neither the order of the phase transition nor the
temperature at which it occurs change, once Z(\vph,T) is included. But a
non--vanishing, positive (negative) Z(\vph,T) enhances (decreases) the
critical droplet surface tension and the strength of the phase transition. We
find that in the range of parameter space, which allows for a first--order
phase transition, the wave function correction term is negative --- indicating
a weaker phase transition --- and especially for small field values so large
that perturbation theory becomes unreliable.Comment: 23 pages of LaTeX + 3 PostScript figures included in uuencoded form,
FERMI-PUB-93/253-