Speaker
Description
First-order phase transitions in the early universe may provide a pathway for studying beyond-the-Standard-Model physics through observing a gravitational wave background, and table-top experiments allow for testing our theories of nucleation. Nucleation rates are often modeled with the assumption that the metastable phase stays in equilibrium throughout the majority of the transition, which is known to be incomplete to at least some degree. In this talk, we discuss a framework for going beyond the assumption and performing lattice simulations to find the appropriate stationary nucleation rate. We will also highlight results from 1+1-dimensional lattice simulations: indications of the equilibrium assumption being quite good for early universe due to large exponential suppression, the stationary rate potentially being much below the equilibrium one in table-top experiments and finite-size effects possibly destabilizing the stationary rate altogether. These results highlight the importance of understanding the thermalization of the nucleating degrees of freedom, since it is an important component in determining the stationary nucleation rate.