Phase transitions in the Universe

Abstract

During the past two decades, cosmologists turned to particle physics in order\nto explore the physics of the very early Universe. The main link between the\nphysics of the smallest and largest structures in the Universe is the idea of\nspontaneous symmetry breaking, familiar from condensed matter physics.\nImplementing this mechanism into cosmology leads to the interesting possibility\nthat phase transitions related to the breaking of symmetries in high energy\nparticle physics took place during the early history of the Universe. These\ncosmological phase transitions may help us understand many of the challenges\nfaced by the standard hot Big Bang model of cosmology, while offering a unique\nwindow into the very early Universe and the physics of high energy particle\ninteractions.\n