A critical look at the electroweak phase transition
Andreas Ekstedt, Johan Löfgren
Abstract
A bstract The electroweak phase transition broke the electroweak symmetry. Perturbative methods used to calculate observables related to this phase transition suffer from severe problems such as gauge dependence, infrared divergences, and a breakdown of perturbation theory. In this paper we develop robust perturbative tools for dealing with phase transitions. We argue that gauge and infrared problems are absent in a consistent power-counting. We calculate the finite temperature effective potential to two loops for general gauge-fixing parameters in a generic model. We demonstrate gauge invariance, and perform numerical calculations for the Standard Model in Fermi gauge.
Topics & Concepts
Electroweak interactionPhysicsObservablePerturbation theory (quantum mechanics)Phase transitionParticle physicsGauge (firearms)TechnicolorGauge theoryFermi Gamma-ray Space TelescopeStandard Model (mathematical formulation)Quantum electrodynamicsInfraredTheoretical physicsPerturbation (astronomy)Non-perturbativeGauge bosonPhase (matter)Physics beyond the Standard ModelMinimal Supersymmetric Standard ModelQuantum mechanicsStatistical Mechanics and EntropyAdvanced Thermodynamics and Statistical MechanicsPulsars and Gravitational Waves Research