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Probing the Scale of New Physics by Advanced LIGO/VIRGO

P. S. Bhupal Dev, A. Mazumdar

TL;DR

The paper investigates whether a strong first-order cosmological phase transition at a high temperature $T_*$ around $10^7$–$10^8$ GeV can produce a stochastic gravitational-wave background detectable by advanced LIGO/VIRGO. Using the envelope approximation, it connects bubble-nucleation dynamics, characterized by parameters $\beta/H_*$ and $\alpha$, to a present-day GW spectrum with peak frequency $f_0$ and energy density $\Omega_{\rm GW} h^2$, demonstrating that such a signal could fall within the LIGO band for the stated $T_*$. It then discusses concrete beyond-Standard-Model scenarios—notably Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking and high-scale SUSY realizations (NMSSM, split-SUSY, sneutrino mediation)—where high-scale phase transitions could yield observable GWs with $\beta/H_*\sim O(10$--$100)$ and $f_0$ placing the peak in the LIGO band. The results suggest a novel astrophysical avenue to probe high-energy physics inaccessible to colliders, potentially informing questions about baryogenesis, axions, neutrino masses, and dark matter through GW observations with a global detector network.

Abstract

We show that if the new physics beyond the Standard Model is associated with a first-order phase transition around $10^7-10^8$ GeV, the energy density stored in the resulting stochastic gravitational waves and the corresponding peak frequency are within the projected final sensitivity of the advanced LIGO/VIRGO detectors. We discuss some possible new physics scenarios that could arise at such energies, and in particular, the consequences for Peccei-Quinn and supersymmetry breaking scales.

Probing the Scale of New Physics by Advanced LIGO/VIRGO

TL;DR

The paper investigates whether a strong first-order cosmological phase transition at a high temperature around – GeV can produce a stochastic gravitational-wave background detectable by advanced LIGO/VIRGO. Using the envelope approximation, it connects bubble-nucleation dynamics, characterized by parameters and , to a present-day GW spectrum with peak frequency and energy density , demonstrating that such a signal could fall within the LIGO band for the stated . It then discusses concrete beyond-Standard-Model scenarios—notably Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking and high-scale SUSY realizations (NMSSM, split-SUSY, sneutrino mediation)—where high-scale phase transitions could yield observable GWs with -- and placing the peak in the LIGO band. The results suggest a novel astrophysical avenue to probe high-energy physics inaccessible to colliders, potentially informing questions about baryogenesis, axions, neutrino masses, and dark matter through GW observations with a global detector network.

Abstract

We show that if the new physics beyond the Standard Model is associated with a first-order phase transition around GeV, the energy density stored in the resulting stochastic gravitational waves and the corresponding peak frequency are within the projected final sensitivity of the advanced LIGO/VIRGO detectors. We discuss some possible new physics scenarios that could arise at such energies, and in particular, the consequences for Peccei-Quinn and supersymmetry breaking scales.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 7 sections, 18 equations, 1 figure.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. First-order Phase Transition
  3. Observable Gravity Waves
  4. BSM Scenarios
  5. Peccei-Quinn Symmetry
  6. High-scale Supersymmetry
  7. Conclusion

Figures (1)

  • Figure 1: Stochastic gravitational-wave spectrum from a first-order cosmological phase transition occurring at various critical temperatures (shown in GeV), with the variation of $\beta/H_*$ and $g_*$ shown by the solid bands. For comparison, we also show the expected stochastic background from binary black hole mergers (BBH), along with the 90% C.L. statistical uncertainty TheLIGOScientific:2016wyq. The current 95% C.L. upper limit from a recent cosmological data set (Planck) Lasky:2015lej is shown by the pink shaded region. The current advanced LIGO (aLIGO) sensitivity (O1), and the future observing run O2 (2016-17) and O5 (2020-22) sensitivities at $1\sigma$ C.L. TheLIGOScientific:2016wyq are shown by the black solid, dot-dashed and dashed curves, respectively. A projected sensitivity of eLISA Caprini:2015zlo is shown by the dashed gray curve.