No Arabic abstract
Spectra of stochastic gravitational waves (GW) generated in cosmological first-order phase transitions are computed within strongly correlated theories with a dual holographic description. The theories are mostly used as models of dark sectors. In particular, we consider the so-called Witten-Sakai-Sugimoto model, a $SU(N)$ gauge theory coupled to different matter fields in both the fundamental and the adjoint representations. The model has a well-known top-down holographic dual description which allows us to perform reliable calculations in the strongly coupled regime. We consider the GW spectra from bubble collisions and sound waves arising from two different kinds of first-order phase transitions: a confinement/deconfinement one and a chiral symmetry breaking/restoration one. Depending on the model parameters, we find that the GW spectra may fall within the sensibility region of ground-based and space-based interferometers, as well as of Pulsar Timing Arrays. In the latter case, the signal could be compatible with the recent potential observation by NANOGrav. When the two phase transitions happen at different critical temperatures, characteristic spectra with double frequency peaks show up. Moreover, in this case we explicitly show how to correct the redshift factors appearing in the formulae for the GW power spectra to account for the fact that adiabatic expansion from the first transition to the present times cannot be assumed anymore.
Dark Yang-Mills sectors, which are ubiquitous in the string landscape, may be reheated above their critical temperature and subsequently go through a confining first-order phase transition that produces stochastic gravitational waves in the early universe. Taking into account constraints from lattice and from Yang-Mills (center and Weyl) symmetries, we use a phenomenological model to construct an effective potential of the semi quark-gluon plasma phase, from which we compute the gravitational wave signal produced during confinement for numerous gauge groups. The signal is maximized when the dark sector dominates the energy density of the universe at the time of the phase transition. In that case, we find that it is within reach of the next-to-next generation of experiments (BBO, DECIGO) for a range of dark confinement scales near the weak scale.
Domain walls can form after breakdown of a discrete symmetry induced by first-order phase transition, we study the heavy dark matter produced around the temperature of the phase transition that yields the breakdown of a $mathbb{Z}_{3}$ symmetry. The generated gravitational waves by domain walls decay is found to be able to probed by the Pulsar Timing Arrays, and the future Square Kilometer Array.
We introduce a model in which the genesis of dark matter (DM) and neutrino masses is associated with a first order phase transition of a scalar singlet field. During the phase transition a source right-handed neutrino (RHN) acquires a spacetime-dependent mass dynamically, a small fraction of which is converted via resonant oscillations into a very weakly mixed dark RHN which decays to a dark matter RHN with the observed relic abundance. Neutrino masses are generated via a traditional two RHN type-I seesaw between a fourth RHN and the source neutrino. The gravitational waves produced during the phase transition have a peak frequency that increases with the DM mass, and are detectable at future gravitational wave interferometers for DM masses above ~ 1 MeV. Since the source RHNs are heavier than the electroweak scale, successful leptogenesis is also attainable.
We study the dynamics of the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) phase transition for the QCD axion. In weakly coupled models the transition is typically second order except in the region of parameters where the PQ symmetry is broken through the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism. In strongly coupled realizations the transition is often first order. We show examples where the phase transition leads to strong supercooling lowering the nucleation temperature and enhancing the stochastic gravitational wave signals. The models predict a frequency peak in the range 100-1000 Hz with an amplitude that is already within the sensitivity of LIGO and can be thoroughly tested with future gravitational wave interferometers.
We study the superheavy dark matter (DM) scenario in an extended $B-L$ model, where one generation of right-handed neutrino $ u_R$ is the DM candidate. If there is a new lighter sterile neutrino that co-annihilate with the DM candidate, then the annihilation rate is exponentially enhanced, allowing a DM mass much heavier than the Griest-Kamionkowski bound ($sim10^5$ GeV). We demonstrate that a DM mass $M_{ u_R}gtrsim10^{13}$ GeV can be achieved. Although beyond the scale of any traditional DM searching strategy, this scenario is testable via gravitational waves (GWs) emitted by the cosmic strings from the $U(1)_{B-L}$ breaking. Quantitative calculations show that the DM mass $mathcal{O}(10^9-10^{13}~{rm GeV})$ can be probed by future GW detectors.