PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

We study the generation of the baryon asymmetry in the context of electroweak baryogenesis in two different extensions of the Standard Model. First, we consider an effective theory, in which the Standard Model is augmented by an additional dimension-six Higgs operator. The effects of new physics beyond a cut-off scale are parameterized by this operator. The second model is the two-Higgs-doublet model, whose particle spectrum is extended by two further neutral and two charged heavy Higgs bosons. In both cases we focus on the properties of the electroweak phase transition, especially on its strength and the profile of the nucleating bubbles. After reviewing some general aspects of the electroweak phase transition and baryogenesis we derive the respective thermal effective potentials to one-loop order. We systematically study the parameter spaces, using numerical methods, and compute the strength of the phase transition and the wall thickness as a function of the Higgs masses. We find a strong first order transition for a light Higgs state with a mass up to about 200 GeV. In case of the dimension-six model the cut-off scale has to stay between 500 and 850 GeV, in the two-Higgs-doublet model one needs at least one heavy Higgs mass of 300 GeV. The wall thickness varies for both theories in the range roughly from two to fifteen, in units of the inverse critical temperature. We also estimate the size of the electron and neutron electric dipole moments, since new sources of CP violation give rise to them. In wide ranges of the parameter space we are not in conflict with the experimental bounds. Finally the baryon asymmetry, which is predicted by these models, is related to the Higgs mass and the other appropriate input parameters. In both models the measured baryon asymmetry can be achieved for natural values of the model parameters.