Related papers: Approximating tunneling rates in multi-dimensional…
The liquid-vapor transition is a classic example of a discontinuous (first-order) phase transition. Such transitions underlie many phenomena in cosmology, nuclear and particle physics, and condensed-matter physics. They give rise to…
We study quantum mechanical tunneling using complex solutions of the classical field equations. Simple visualization techniques allow us to unify and generalize previous treatments, and straightforwardly show the connection to the standard…
In order to study the validity of analytical formulas used in the calculation of characteristic physical quantities related to vacuum bubbles, we conduct several numerical simulations of bubble kinematics in the context of cosmological…
We show that in Euclidean field theories that have bounce solutions, the bounce with the least action is the global minimum of the action in an open space of field configurations. A rigorous upper bound on the minimal bounce action can…
We have studied quantum tunneling of large spins in a biaxial spin system and in a single-axial spin system with a transverse magnetic field. The asymptotically exact eigenvalues and eigenstates of the spin systems are obtained by solving…
An alternative approach to the calculation of tunneling actions, that control the exponential suppression of the decay of metastable phases, is presented. The new method circumvents the use of bounces in Euclidean space by introducing an…
We investigate the decay of current on a superconducting cosmic string through quantum tunneling. We construct the instanton describing tunneling in a simple bosonic string model, and estimate the decay rate. The tunneling rate vanishes in…
In the deformed quantum mechanics with a minimal length, one WKB connection formula through a turning point is derived. We then use it to calculate tunnelling rates through potential barriers under the WKB approximation. Finally, the…
Metastable `false' vacuum states are an important feature of the Standard Model of particle physics and many theories beyond it. Describing the dynamics of a phase transition out of a false vacuum via the nucleation of bubbles is essential…
We study the tunneling between two quantum Hall systems, along a quasi one-dimensional interface. A detailed analysis relates microscopic parameters, characterizing the potential barrier, with the effective field theory model for the…
We study statistical relationships between bubble walls in cosmological first-order phase transitions. We consider the conditional and joint probabilities for different points on the walls to remain uncollided at given times. We use these…
Classical-statistical lattice simulations provide a useful approximation to out-of-equilibrium quantum field theory, but only for systems exhibiting large occupation numbers, and only for phenomena that are not intrinsically quantum…
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…
The assisted tunneling of a wave packet between square one dimensional barriers is treated analytically. The tunneling rate is calculated exactly for a potential mimicking a constant electric field with arbitrary time dependence. The pole…
False vacuum decay in quantum mechanical first order phase transitions is a phenomenon with wide implications in cosmology, and presents interesting theoretical challenges. In the standard approach, it is assumed that false vacuum decay…
We use path-integrals to derive a general expression for the semiclassical approximation to the partition function of a one-dimensional quantum-mechanical system. Our expression depends solely on ordinary integrals which involve the…
Time it takes to travel from one position to another, devoid of any quantum mechanical description, has been modeled variously, especially for quantum tunneling. The model time, if universally valid, must be subluminal, must hold everywhere…
We examine the particle production during tunneling in quantum cosmology. We consider a minisuperspace model with a massive, conformally coupled scalar field and a uniform radiation background. In this model, we construct a semiclassical…
We argue that a system of interacting D-branes, generalizing a recent proposal, can be modelled as a Quantum Hall fluid. We show that tachyon condensation in such a system is equivalent to one particle tunnelling. In a conformal field…
Using the phenomenological quantum friction models introduced by Caldirola-Kanai, Kostin, and Albrecht, we study quantum tunneling of a one-dimensional potential in the presence of energy dissipation. To this end, we calculate the tunneling…