English

Vacuum Hydrodynamics

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2007-05-23 v1

Abstract

The Higgs vacuum -- with its constant background field -- is not `empty' but is a kind of medium. Any ordinary medium, viewed at sufficiently long length scales, has a hydrodynamic description and can propagate sound waves. The vacuum medium is unusual; the speed of sound is formally infinite and there is no linear sound-wave regime. Instead, long-wavelength disturbances are described by some intrinsically nonlinear hydrodynamic equations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.hep-ph/0206016,
  title  = {Vacuum Hydrodynamics},
  author = {P. M. Stevenson},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-ph/0206016},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

9 pages, 1 eps figure (included)