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arXiv · astro-ph/9602095

Preheating and symmetry restoration in collisions of vacuum bubbles

Edward W. Kolb·Antonio Riotto
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Abstract

In first-order inflation a phase transition is completed by the collisions of expanding true-vacuum bubbles. If bubble collisions produce large numbers of soft scalar particles carrying quantum numbers associated with a spontaneously broken symmetry, then symmetry restoration may occur in a ``pre-heating'' phase in a manner similar to symmetry restoration in the pre-heating phase of slow-roll inflation. Since bubble collisions lead to inhomogeneities, there is the possibility of inhomogeneous symmetry restoration where restoration occurs only in the regions of wall collisions.

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Edward W. Kolb, Antonio Riotto. 1996-02-19. Preheating and symmetry restoration in collisions of vacuum bubbles. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.55.3313

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