CMT187

AB Transition in Superfluid ³He and Cosmological Phase Transitions

• Author(s): M. Hindmarsh, J. A. Sauls, K. Zhang, et al.
• Journal: Journal of Low Temperature Physics submitted, pages 1-18 (2024) [arXiv]
• Special Issue: Proceedings of the 2023 International Conference on Quantum Fluids and Solids, held in Manchester, UK, August 2023. [arXiv].
• Abstract: First order phase transitions in the very early universe are a prediction of many extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics and could provide the departure from equilibrium needed for a dynamical explanation of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. They could also produce gravitational waves of a frequency observable by future space-based detectors such as the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). All calculations of the gravitational wave power spectrum rely on a relativistic version of the classical nucleation theory of Cahn-Hilliard and Langer, due to Coleman and Linde. The high purity and precise control of pressure and temperature achievable in the laboratory made the first-order A to B transition of superfluid ³He an ideal for test of classical nucleation theory. As Leggett and others have noted the theory fails dramatically. The lifetime of the metastable A phase is measurable, typically of order minutes to hours, far faster than classical nucleation theory predicts. If the nucleation of B phase from the supercooled A phase is due to a new, rapid intrinsic mechanism that would have implications for first-order cosmological phase transitions as well as predictions for gravitational wave (GW) production in the early universe. Here we discuss studies of the AB phase transition dynamics in ³He, both experimental and theoretical, and show how the computational technology for cosmological phase transition can be used to simulate the dynamics of the AB transition, support the experimental investigations of the AB transition in the QUEST-DMC collaboration with the goal of identifying and quantifying the mechanism(s) responsible for nucleation of stable phases in ultra-pure metastable quantum phases.

• Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures [arXiv].

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