https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-017-4996-1
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Phase transition and gravitational wave phenomenology of scalar conformal extensions of the Standard Model
National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Rävala pst. 10, 10143, Tallinn, Estonia
* e-mail: ville.vaskonen@kbfi.ee
Received:
12
April
2017
Accepted:
15
June
2017
Published online:
20
July
2017
Thermal corrections in classically conformal models typically induce a strong first-order electroweak phase transition, thereby resulting in a stochastic gravitational background that could be detectable at gravitational wave observatories. After reviewing the basics of classically conformal scenarios, in this paper we investigate the phase transition dynamics in a thermal environment and the related gravitational wave phenomenology within the framework of scalar conformal extensions of the Standard Model. We find that minimal extensions involving only one additional scalar field struggle to reproduce the correct phase transition dynamics once thermal corrections are accounted for. Next-to-minimal models, instead, yield the desired electroweak symmetry breaking and typically result in a very strong gravitational wave signal.
© The Author(s), 2017
