28 July 2025 to 15 August 2025
Albano Building 3
Europe/Stockholm timezone

Simulating cosmic bubbles on the lattice and in the lab

5 Aug 2025, 10:30
30m
Albano Building 3

Albano Building 3

Hannes Alfvéns väg 12, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden

Speaker

Alex Jenkins (University of Cambridge)

Description

Bubble nucleation plays a pivotal role in many models of particle physics and the early Universe, and is a promising potential source of cosmological gravitational waves. However, we lack a satisfying theoretical understanding of this process, with existing approaches working only in imaginary (Euclidean) time, and relying on assumptions that have yet to be empirically tested. A promising route forward is to use cold-atom systems which undergo first-order phase transitions that are analogous to vacuum decay. In this talk, I will present recent theoretical work to understand this analogy using semiclassical lattice simulations, and will discuss possibilities and challenges for realising these analogues in the laboratory.

Primary author

Alex Jenkins (University of Cambridge)

Presentation materials

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