Beecroft Building, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU
Dr Vazha Loladze, University of Oxford, Theoretical Physics
Andrei Constantin (andrei.constantin@physics.ox.ac.uk)
Abstract
Recent advances in gravitational wave astronomy have opened new avenues for exploring physics beyond the Standard Model. The transparency of the universe to gravitational waves allows us to probe much earlier epochs in cosmology, including temperatures above the weak scale. Many BSM scenarios may be probed through production of gravitational wave signals detectable by upcoming observatories. Significant progress has been made in identifying various potential sources of these signals. In this talk, I will focus on the prospect of gravitational wave production from a first-order confinement phase transition. First, I will review the literature on phase transitions in Yang-Mills theory, arguing that in the minimal setup, it is likely the phase transition to be weakly first-order and hence incapable of generating a significant gravitational wave signal. Next, I will introduce an explicit field theoretical toy model that undergoes the first-order confinement phase transition and facilitates strong supercooling. In this scenario, the generation of a potentially detectable gravitational wave signal is possible. At the end of the talk, I will explore the potential phenomenological implications of supercooled confinement.