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Complex scalar singlet model: Electroweak phase transition and gravitational waves

Dilip Kumar Ghosh*, Debadrita Mukherjee, Koustav Mukherjee, and Rohan Pramanick§

  • *Contact author: dilipghoshjal@gmail.com
  • Contact author: mukherjeedebadrita531@gmail.com
  • Contact author: koustav.physics1995@gmail.com
  • §Contact author: rohanpramanick25@gmail.com

Phys. Rev. D 114, 055021 – Published 11 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/q89d-gggz

Abstract

The Standard Model (SM) cannot explain the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe (BAU), thus driving the need for physics beyond the SM, which can generate the electroweak baryogenesis through a strong first-order electroweak phase transition (SFOPT). We extend the SM with a complex singlet scalar (cxSM) and examine the phase transition dynamics using a fully general renormalizable scalar potential that permits a complex vacuum expectation value for the singlet scalar and coupled dynamics among multiple scalar fields. Employing the full one-loop thermal effective potential, we conduct an extensive parameter space scan, enforcing both theoretical and experimental constraints on the scalar sector. To efficiently capture the highly nonlinear structure of model parameter space, we embark on a classifier based machine learning approach to identify regions manifesting SFOPT while revealing key signatures of model parameters. From these regions, we select a few representative benchmark scenarios that show multistage transitions followed by the production of stochastic gravitational wave signals from bubble nucleation dynamics. The resulting spectra fall within the projected sensitivities of future space-based detectors such as LISA, BBO, DECIGO, and U-DECIGO. Thus, the cxSM offers a compelling setting for the electroweak baryogenesis, enriched by correlated gravitational wave and collider phenomenology.

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