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A '''cosmological phase transition''' is a physical process, whereby the overall state of matter changes together across the whole universe. The success of the [[Big Bang]] model led researchers to conjecture possible cosmological phase transitions taking place in the very early universe, at a time when it was much hotter and denser than today.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Guth |first1=Alan H. |last2=Tye |first2=S.H. H. |title=Phase Transitions and Magnetic Monopole Production in the Very Early Universe |journal=Phys. Rev. Lett. |date=1980 |volume=44 |pages=631 |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.44.631}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Witten |first1=Edward |title=Cosmic Separation of Phases |journal=Phys. Rev. D |date=1984 |volume=30 |pages=272–285 |doi=10.1016/0550-3213(81)90182-6}}</ref>
Any cosmological phase transitions which took place in the early universe may have left signals which are observable today. For example, a [[Phase Transition#Classifications|first-order phase transition]] would lead to the production of a [[gravitational wave background|stochastic background of gravitational waves]].<ref name="hogan-gws">{{cite journal |last1=Hogan |first1=C. J. |title=Gravitational radiation from cosmological phase transitions |journal=Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. |date=1986 |volume=218 |pages=629-636 |doi=10.1093/mnras/218.4.629 |url=https://adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/1986MNRAS.218..629H |access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref> Experiments such as [[NANOGrav]] and [[Laser Interferometer Space Antenna|LISA]] may be sensitive to this signal.<ref name="nanograv">{{cite journal |last1=NANOGrav |title=The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Search for Signals of New Physics |journal=Astrophys. J. Lettl |date=2023 |volume=951 |issue=1 |pages=L11 |doi=10.3847/2041-8213/acdc91}}</ref><ref name="lisa-pt">{{cite journal |last1=LISA Cosmology Working Group |title=Science with the space-based interferometer eLISA. II: Gravitational waves from cosmological phase transitions |journal=JCAP |date=2016 |volume=04 |pages=001 |doi=10.1088/1475-7516/2016/04/001}}</ref>
==Examples==
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