Speaker
Description
Cosmological first-order phase transitions may have generated a gravitational wave background detectable by LISA, offering a unique window into physics beyond the Standard Model. A crucial step in predicting this background is the reliable computation of bubble nucleation rates. This talk begins with an overview of the current state of perturbative calculations based on effective field theories and Boltzmann equations. We then discuss recent real-time lattice results supporting the equilibrium assumption underlying perturbative calculations, as well as dynamical prefactor results obtained from the Boltzmann analysis. We conclude by discussing open questions that remain in the perturbative approaches, highlighting directions for future developments.