Study of gravitational waves from phase transitions in three-component dark matter

Abstract

This paper studies gravitational waves in a dark matter model composed of three types of particles with distinct spins, along with a scalar field $\phi$ that mediates interactions between Standard Model particles and dark matter. It discusses the electroweak phase transition following the Big Bang, during which all particles are initially massless due to the inactive Higgs mechanism. As temperature decreases, the effective potential reaches zero at two points, leading to two minima at the critical temperature ($T_c$), and eventually to a true vacuum state. The formation of new vacuum bubbles, where electroweak symmetry is broken and particles acquire mass, generates gravitational waves as these bubbles interact with the fabric of space-time. The paper derives the gravitational wave frequency and detection range based on the model's parameters, aligning with observational data from the Planck satellite and detection thresholds from PandaX-4T and XENONnT for some parameter points. It concludes by comparing the predicted background gravitational wave density with the sensitivities of LISA, BBO and $\mu$-Ares detectors.