Fast Electroweak Symmetry Breaking and Cold Electroweak Baryogenesis

We construct a model for delayed electroweak symmetry breaking that takes place in a cold Universe with T<<100 GeV and which proceeds by a fast quench rather than by a conventional, slow, phase transition. This is achieved by coupling the Standard Model Higgs to an additional scalar field. We show that the quench transition can be made fast enough for successful Cold Electroweak Baryogenesis, while leaving known electroweak physics unchanged.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures. Section and extra checks added, conclusions unchanged. Published versio

Standard Model CP-violation and Cold Electroweak Baryogenesis

Using large scale real-time lattice simulations, we calculate the baryon asymmetry generated at a fast, cold electroweak symmetry breaking transition. CP-violation is provided by the leading effective bosonic term resulting from integrating out the fermions in the Minimal Standard Model at zero temperature, and performing a covariant gradient expansion [1]. This is an extension of the work presented in [2]. The numerical implementation is described in detail, and we address issues specifically related to using this CP-violating term in the context of Cold Electroweak Baryogenesis. The results support the conclusion of [2], that Standard Model CP-violation may be able to reproduce the observed baryon asymmetry in the Universe in the context of Cold Electroweak Baryogenesis.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures. Revision, clarification and focusing of presentation, typos fixed, results unchange

2PI simulations in expanding backgrounds: Doing it anyway!

I set out the 2PI formalism for quantum fields in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker Universe. I show how one can solve self-consistently for the quantum field evolution and the evolution of the cosmological scale factor, using a renormalised semi-classical Friedmann equation. In a 2PI coupling expansion truncated at O(lambda^2), I perform sample calculations demonstrating kinetic and chemical equilibration in this context.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of SEWM08, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, August 26-29, 200

Cold Electroweak Baryogenesis in the Two Higgs-Doublet Model

We perform the first investigation of cold electroweak baryogenesis in the two Higgs-doublet model (2HDM). The electroweak symmetry breaking transition is assumed to occur through a spinodal instability from a super-cooled initial state. We consider the creation of net Chern-Simons number, which through the axial anomaly is equivalent to baryon number. CP-violation is explicit in the scalar potential, but only in combination with P-violation is it possible for an asymmetry to be generated. This is introduced through the leading C- and P-breaking, but CP-invariant, term expected to arise upon integrating out the fermions in the theory. We perform real-time lattice simulations of the transition, and find the coefficient of this term required for successful bayogenesis.Comment: 20 pages, 18 figure

Thermal blocking of preheating

The parametric resonance responsible for preheating after inflation will end when self-interactions of the resonating field and interactions of this field with secondary degrees of freedom become important. In many cases, the effect may be quantified in terms of an effective mass and the resulting shifting out of the spectrum of the strongest resonance band. In certain curvaton models, such thermal blocking can even occur before preheating has begun, delaying or even preventing the decay of the curvaton. We investigate numerically to what extent this thermal blocking is realised in a specific scenario, and whether the effective mass is well approximated by the perturbative leading order thermal mass. We find that the qualitative behaviour is well reproduced in this approximation, and that the end of preheating can be confidently estimated.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures. v2: references adde

A Simple Method for One-Loop Renormalization in Curved Space-Time

We present a simple method for deriving the renormalization counterterms from the components of the energy-momentum tensor in curved space-time. This method allows full control over the finite parts of the counterterms and provides explicit expressions for each term separately. As an example, the method is used for the self-interacting scalar field in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric in the adiabatic approximation, where we calculate the renormalized equation of motion for the field and the renormalized components of the energy-momentum tensor to fourth adiabatic order while including interactions to one-loop order. Within this formalism the trace anomaly, including contributions from interactions, is shown to have a simple derivation. We compare our results to those obtained by two standard methods, finding agreement with the Schwinger-DeWitt expansion but disagreement with adiabatic subtractions for interacting theories.Comment: 25 pages, published versio

Simulations of Cold Electroweak Baryogenesis: Dependence on Higgs mass and strength of CP-violation

Cold electroweak baryogenesis was proposed as a scenario to bypass generic problems of electroweak baryogenesis within the Standard Model. In this scenario, baryogenesis takes place during an electroweak symmetry breaking transition, which is also responsible for preheating after inflation. In the simplest modelling of the scenario, only two parameters remain undetermined: The Higgs mass and the strength of CP violation. Using full real-time lattice simulations, we compute the dependence of the asymmetry on these parameters.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure

Oscillons and quasi-breathers in D+1 dimensions

We study oscillons in D+1 space-time dimensions using a spherically symmetric ansatz. From Gaussian initial conditions, these evolve by emitting radiation, approaching ``quasi-breathers'', near-periodic solutions to the equations of motion. Using a truncated mode expansion, we numerically determine these quasi-breather solutions in 2<D<6 and the energy dependence on the oscillation frequency. In particular, this energy has a minimum, which in turn depends on the number of spatial dimensions. We study the time evolution and lifetimes of the resulting quasi-breathers, and show how generic oscillons decay into these before disappearing altogether. We comment on the apparent absence of oscillons for D>5 and the possibility of stable solutions for D<2.Comment: 18 pages and 18 figure