Cosmological phase transitions are predicted by particle physics models, and have a variety of important cosmological consequences, which depend strongly on the dynamics of the transition. In this work we investigate in detail the general features of the development of a first-order phase transition. We find thermodynamical constraints on some quantities that determine the dynamics, namely, the latent heat, the radiation energy density, and the false-vacuum energy density. Using a simple model with a Higgs field, we study numerically the amount and duration of supercooling and the subsequent reheating and phase coexistence. We analyze the dependence of the dynamics on the different parameters of the model, namely, the energy scale, the number of degrees of freedom, and the couplings of the scalar field with bosons and fermions. We also inspect the implications for the cosmological outcomes of the phase transition.

• Received 12 December 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.77.063519