Related papers: Tunneling in Theories with Many Fields
False vacuum decay in field theory may be formulated as a boundary value problem in Euclidean space. In a previous work, we studied its solution in single scalar field theories with quadratic gravity and used it to find obstructions to…
The tunneling potential method to calculate the action for vacuum decay is an alternative to the Euclidean bounce method that has a number of attractive features. In this paper we extend the formalism to general spacetime dimension $d>2$…
We analyze quantum-mechanical counterpart of Newtonian cosmology and show that effects of zero-point motion eliminate classical density singularity. Quantum effects are particularly significant for closed Universes where without the…
We consider the statistical properties of vacua and inflationary trajectories associated with a random multifield potential. Our underlying motivation is the string landscape, but our calculations apply to general potentials. Using random…
I discuss conceptual issues associated with the presence of metastable AdS vacua in the string landscape. The geometry of the decay from one AdS to another is presented in detail, and various subtleties that are not present for flat or dS…
Quasiclassical methods are used to define dynamical tunneling times in models of quantum cosmological bounces. These methods provide relevant new information compared with the traditional treatment of quantum tunneling by means of tunneling…
We conjecture that all vacua in string theory decay. More precisely, non-supersymmetric vacua in string theory are at most metastable and eventually decay, while supersymmetric vacua are only marginally stable. All de Sitter vacua with…
We explore the possibility that quantum cosmology considerations could provide a selection principle in the landscape of string vacua. We propose that the universe emerged from the string era in a thermally excited state and determine,…
We consider a single real scalar field in flat spacetime with a polynomial potential up to $\phi^4$, that has a local minimum, the false vacuum, and a deeper global minimum, the true vacuum. When the vacua are almost degenerate we are in…
In this work we propose an alternative scheme for an Emergent Universe scenario where the universe is initially in a static state supported by a scalar field located in a false vacuum. The universe begins to evolve when, by quantum…
We argue that the study of the statistics of the landscape of string vacua provides the first potentially predictive -- and also falsifiable -- framework for string theory. The question of whether the theory does or does not predict low…
We study a gauge theory model where there is an intermediate symmetry breaking to a meta- stable vacuum that breaks a simple gauge group to a U (1) factor. Such models admit the existence of meta-stable magnetic monopoles, which we dub…
In [1], KKLT give a mechanism to generate de Sitter vacua in string theory. And the scenario, \emph{Landscape}, is suggested to explain the problem of the cosmological constant. In this paper, adopting a simple potential describing the…
In this talk, we present three examples of new non-trivial vacuum structures that can occur in supersymmetric field theories, along with explicit models in which they arise. The first vacuum structure is one in which supersymmetry is broken…
The recent progress in the understanding of the landscape of string theory vacua hints that the hierarchy problem might be the problem of a super-selection rule. The attractor mechanism gives a possibility to explain the choice of a vacuum.…
In this work we consider the scalar field model with a false vacuum proposed by A. T. Avelar, D. Bazeia, L. Losano and R. Menezes, Eur. Phys. J. C 55, 133-143 (2008). The model depends on a parameter $s>0$. The model has unstable…
A method to determine the quantum state of a scalar field after $O(4)$-symmetric bubble nucleation has been developed recently. The method has an advantage that it concisely gives us a clear picture of the resultant quantum state. In…
We discuss models in which vacua other than our own can be directly observed in the present universe. Models with density-dependent vacuum structure can give rise to `non-lethal'-vacua: vacua with lower energy-density than our vacuum, but…
A new approach to vacuum decay in quantum field theory, based on a simple variational formulation in field space using a tunneling potential, is ideally suited to study the effects of gravity on such decays. The method allows to prove in…
It has been recently realized that within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, for certain patterns of superpartner masses, consistent with all the present experimental constraints, the scalar potential may develop at some scale $Q_0$…