Domain wall networks from first-order phase transitions and gravitational waves

Abstract: In the first-order phase transitions (PTs) colliding bubble is an important gravitational wave (GW) source. Following bubble collision, domain walls can be formed when degenerate vacua occur as a result of the breaking of a discrete symmetry relevant to new physics at electroweak or higher scales. Using lattice simulations, we study the dynamical evolution of domain walls and find that the networks of the domain wall are formed around the completion of PTs and the lifetime of the wall networks largely depends on whether or not the degeneracy of true vacua is broken. Our numerical results indicate that domain wall networks continue to produce GWs in the aftermath of PTs, leading to dramatically changing the spectral shape and enhancing the magnitude by about one order. The resulting GW power spectra are peaked at $kR_* \simeq \pi$, above the peak wavenumber it has a decaying power law close to $k^{-1.2}$ followed by a slowly decreasing plateau with the UV cutoff at $kR_* \sim \mathcal{O}(10^2)$