Simulations of a bubble wall interacting with an electroweak plasma

Abstract

We perform large-scale real-time simulations of a bubble wall sweeping through an out-of-equilibrium plasma. The scenario we have in mind is the electroweak phase transition, which may be first order in extensions of the Standard Model, and produce such bubbles. The process may be responsible for baryogenesis and can generate a background of primordial cosmological gravitational waves. We study thermodynamic features of the plasma near the advancing wall, the generation of Chern-Simons number/Higgs winding number and consider the potential for CP-violation at the wall generating a baryon asymmetry. A number of technical details necessary for a proper numerical implementation are developed.