Gravitational waves from first-order phase transitions: ultra-supercooled transitions and the fate of relativistic shocks

Abstract

We study the gravitational wave (GW) production in extremely strong first order phase transitions where the vacuum energy density dominates the plasma energy density, α ≳ 1. In such transitions, bubbles develop extremely thin and relativistic fluid configurations, resulting in strong shock waves after collisions. We first propose a strategy to understand the GW production in such a system by separating the problem into the propagation part and the collision part. Focusing on the former, we next develop an effective theory for the propagation of the relativistic fluid shells. Using this effective theory, we finally calculate the expected duration of the relativistic fluid configurations and discuss its implications to the GW production.