How particle physics stops ultra-relativistic bubbles and shapes their gravitational waves

Alessandro Strumia

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arXiv · 2610.36160

How particle physics stops ultra-relativistic bubbles and shapes their gravitational waves

Alessandro Strumia

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Abstract

The gravitational-wave spectrum produced by ultra-relativistic bubbles in a first-order cosmological phase transition can be approximated in terms of their energy density as a function of bubble size. Bubble collisions and post-collision classical evolution negligibly change it. The dominant energy loss is particle scattering, often in the Landau--Pomeranchuk--Migdal regime. So the GW spectrum depends on the particle-physics coupling (interpolating between the `envelope' and `bulk flow' limits), on the interaction type (gauge, Yukawa, scalar quartic, ...), and on whether particle number is conserved. Finally, we consider broken global symmetries, which give a mixture of `elastic' and `inelastic' collisions.

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Alessandro Strumia. 2026-10-26. How particle physics stops ultra-relativistic bubbles and shapes their gravitational waves. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.36160

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