False vacuum decay in the early Universe and gravitational waves

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The first direct observation of gravitational waves from a binary merger was made by the LIGO/Virgo collaboration in 2015. In the next decade, gravitational wave research will enter the realm of precision science. This is a big opportunity for particle physics, but much still needs to be understood to properly interpret the data. To maximize our discovery potential, new analytic and computational tools have to be developed to translate the experimental findings to information about particles. In this project we will mostly focus on early Universe sources of gravitational waves (as may be observed by the planned LISA experiment), in particular from first order phase transitions. Gravitational waves from these sources hold the potential to unravel many mysteries of our Universe, including the nature of dark matter, the strong CP-problem, and the asymmetry between matter and antimatter.