Remarks on the Electroweak Phase Transition

Abstract

In the standard scenario, the electroweak phase transition is a first order phase transition which completes by the nucleation of critical bubbles. Recently, there has been speculation that the standard picture of the electroweak phase transition is incorrect. Instead, it has been proposed that throughout the phase transition appreciable amounts of both broken and unbroken phases of $SU(2)$ coexist in equilibrium. I argue that this can not be the case. General principles insure that the universe will remain in a homogenous state of unbroken $SU(2)$ until the onset of critical bubble production. In addition, an analytic treatment of the one Higgs doublet, electroweak phase transition in the standard model and minimal extensions is reviewed. Results from the thin wall approximation are compared to results obtained using the Lindes' action. Perhaps the most important quantitative result we can get from an analysis of the phase transition is determination of $\vevphi$ when the phase transition completes. For Higgs boson masses above the current experimental limit, the thin wall approximation determines the value of $\vevphi$ at the end of the phase transition to an accuracy of better than three percent.