First order electroweak phase transition

In the early universe at high temperatures the electroweak gauge symmetry has been restored. This has important cosmological implications, since the baryon-number violating processes are unsuppressed at high temperatures. In particular it is conceivable that the observed baryon asymmetry can be understood within the standard model. In order to provide the necessary departure from thermal equilibrium a sufficiently strong first order phase transition via bubble nucleation is needed. (orig.)Available from TIB Hannover: RA 2999(93-032) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman