Real-Time History of the Cosmological Electroweak Phase Transition

We study numerically the macroscopic real-time history of the cosmological electroweak phase transition, as it may take place in the standard model or in the minimal supersymmetric standard model for $m_H\lesssim m_W$ according to recent lattice results. We follow the nucleated bubbles from the initial stages of acceleration and rapid growth, through collisions with compression waves resulting in slowing down and reheating to $T_c$, until the final stages of slow growth and evaporation. We find that collisions with compression waves may make the bubble walls oscillate, and that reheating to $T_c$ generically takes place.