#13 Cosmological defects in extensions of the Standard Model

A popular way to solve some current problems with the Standard Model of particle physics, such as Dark Matter, is by extending its Higgs sector. Such models can come with a complicated potential and contain a non-trivial vacuum structure. At small scales this is not impactful, but in cosmology this could provide a way to probe these models. After the Big Bang, different structures can originate due to the vacuum topology (domain walls, vortices, etc…) with potentially lasting effects.

For this project we will study the impact of the vacuum topology in the 2-Higgs doublet model for different symmetries. We will numerically locate the minima for the potential (vacuum) and then simulate the border between two regions of space with two disconnected minimums (domain walls) in order to study its properties.

Requirements: only 3rd year students and above. Some programming experience.