Growth of bubbles in cosmological phase transitions

We study how bubbles grow after the initial nucleation event in generic first-order cosmological phase transitions characterized by the values of the latent heat L, interface tension σ, and correlation length ξ, and driven by a scalar order parameter φ. Equations coupling φ(t,x) and the fluid variables v(t,x), T(t,x) and depending on a dissipative constant Γ are derived and solved numerically in the (1+1)-dimensional case starting from a slightly deformed critical bubble configuration φ(0,x). The parameters L, σ, ξ corresponding to QCD and electroweak phase transitions are chosen and the whole history of the bubble with the formation of combustion and shock fronts is computed as a function of Γ. Both deflagrations and detonations can appear depending on the values of the parameters. Reheating due to collisions of bubbles is also computed. © 1994 The American Physical Society.