Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Coleman-Weinberg models invoke classical scale invariance to forbid scalar masses, but then add a dimensionful constant to cancel the vacuum energy of the broken vacuum. This inconsistency is avoided by special quantum potentials, whose symmetry-breaking vacuum is degenerate with the symmetric one. We compute which vacuum is selected by the thermal history of the universe. While a neutral thermal plasma favours the symmetric phase, a sufficiently large conserved charge asymmetry supports a rotating scalar condensate that evolves toward the broken vacuum as the universe cools, and survives fragmentation.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Duch, Mateusz, Strumia, Alessandro
Institution: University of Pisa
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7223230982