Seeded bubble nucleation on the lattice

Abstract

We provide the first non-perturbative lattice determination of the bubble nucleation rate as seeded by topological defects during a first order phase transition. Our case of study is the cubic anisotropy model, which can mimic the Higgs-plus-singlet setup for the electroweak theory, in $d=2+1$ spacetime dimensions, where bubbles are seeded by (line-like) domain walls. We compare the nucleation rate from the lattice with the semi-classical prediction based on the effective field theory living on the domain walls, including for the first time the fluctuation determinant away from spherical symmetry. Our results show very good agreement across all the considered parameter space.