Nonequilibrium framework for first-order phase transitions
Abstract
The first-order phase transition is central to electroweak baryogenesis and gravitational wave generation, yet thermal equilibrium effective potential analyses cannot describe the real-time non-equilibrium dynamics of the phase transition process. We use the Schwinger-Keldysh closed-time-path formalism of real-time finite-temperature field theory to study these effects. For the ϕ6 model, we derive the effective action and the corresponding Langevin equation. We further extend the formalism to the two scalar fields case, obtaining the coupled Langevin equations. These results provide a theoretical framework for the bubble nucleation simulation of the non-equilibrium phase transition process, laying the foundation for reliable predictions of baryogenesis and gravitational wave signals.
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BibTeX
@misc{liu2026nonequilibrium,
title = {{Nonequilibrium framework for first-order phase transitions}},
author = {Jie Liu and Ligong Bian},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.16385},
eprint = {2610.16385},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.16385},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Nonequilibrium framework for first-order phase transitions
AU - Jie Liu
AU - Ligong Bian
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.16385
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.16385
AB - The first-order phase transition is central to electroweak baryogenesis and gravitational wave generation, yet thermal equilibrium effective potential analyses cannot describe the real-time non-equilibrium dynamics of the phase transition process. We use the Schwinger-Keldysh closed-time-path formalism of real-time finite-temperature field theory to study these effects. For the ϕ^6 model, we derive the effective action and the corresponding Langevin equation. We further extend the formalism to the two scalar fields case, obtaining the coupled Langevin equations. These results provide a theoretical framework for the bubble nucleation simulation of the non-equilibrium phase transition process, laying the foundation for reliable predictions of baryogenesis and gravitational wave signals.
ER -