Electroweak Physics and the Early Universe: (338 NATO Science Series B:)

Electroweak Phase Transition and the Early Universe, a NATO Advanced Re- search Workshop, was held March 23-25, 1994, at the Hotel Tivoli in Sintra, Portugal. The meeting was co-sponsored by three other Lisbon-based institutions: the Fundac;ao Gulbenkian, J. N.!. C. T. (Junta Nacional para Investigac;ao Cientifica e Tecnologica) and G. T. A. E. (Grupo Teorico de Alta Energias). The workshop brought together a large number of theoretical physicists who are actively researching topics relevant to the understanding of the standard model of electroweak interactions in the early universe. We were pleased and overwhelmed by the positive, and sometimes instan- taneous response that our enterprise raised right from its inception. The old town of Sintra provided a serene and pleasant environment for the par- ticipants. Some heated and controversial discussions on many unanswered questions in the standard model took place throughout the three days of the workshop. If one consensus emerged from the meeting, it was the imperative need for non-perturbative techniques for the understanding of the electroweak phase transition.

Table of Contents:
3-D Physics and the Electroweak Phase Transition: Perturbation Theory and Lattice Monte Carlo Analysis.- Dynamical Evolution of the Electroweak Phase Transition.- Gauge Invariant Effective Potential and 4-D Lattice Simulations of the Electroweak Phase Transition.- On the Strength of First Order Phase Transitions.- An Overview of the ?-Expansion and the Electroweak Phase Transition.- The Electroweak Phase Transition in Extended Models.- Some Non-Perturbative Aspects of the Electroweak Phase Transition.- Electroweak Baryogenesis: Problems and Prospects.- A Note on Spontaneous Baryogenesis.- Tau Leptons and Top Quarks in a ‘non-local’ Baryogenesis at the Electroweak Phase Transition.- Preventing Baryon Washout with Z’.- Baryogenesis from a Primordial Lepton Asymmetry.- Electroweak Phase Changes in Two Higgs Models.- On Primordial Magnetic Fields.- Another Look at the Electroweak Vortex Solution.- Electroweak Baryogenesis with Topological Defects.- Electroweak Strings, Sphalerons and Magnetic Fields.- Electroweak Strings Produce Baryons.- Electroweak Strings and Topology.- Sphalerons and Strings.- Existence and Stability of Spinning Embedded Vortices.- Effective Potential for the Wilson Line in the Standard Model.- Fluctuations at Phase Transitions.- High Temperature Field Theory Beyond Perturbation Theory.- High Temperature Phase Transitions with the Effective Average Action.- Exact Renormalization Group Equations for Gauge Theories.- Environmentally Friendly Renormalization in Finite-Temperature Field Theory.- Sphaleron-like Transitions at High Temperatures.- Fluctuation Corrections to the Transition Rate of the Electroweak Sphaleron.- Hot Abelian Higgs Model: Real-Time Properties.- Non-Equilibrium Evolution of Disoriented Chiral Condensates.- Non-EquilibriumQuantum Field Evolution in FRW Cosmologies.- A Report on Quantum Spinodal Decomposition.- NonPerturbative Evaluation of the Sphaleron Transition Rate.- Bubble Nucleation in Theories with Symmetry Breaking by Radiative Corrections.- One-Loop Corrections to the Bubble Nucleation Rate at Finite Temperature.- Hydrodynamics of Bubble Growth.- Quantum Scattering and Classical Solutions.- Spherical Shells of Classical Gauge Field and Their Topological Charge as a Perturbative Expansion.- In Search of Classical Trajectories.- Possible Instability of the Effective Potential in a Scalar Model due to Extra Dimensions.- Gravitinos in the Early Universe.- On the Problem of the Magnetic Mass.- Next-to-Leading Order Debye-Screening in Spontaneously Broken Gauge Theories.- Hierarchy of Effective Models.- Derivative Corrections in a Scalar Theory.