Related papers: Absolute Lower Bound on the Bounce Action
In Euclidean space there is a trivial upper bound on the maximum length of a compound "walk" built up of variable-length jumps, and a considerably less trivial lower bound on its minimum length. The existence of this non-trivial lower bound…
In this work we show a class of oscillating configurations for the evolution of the domain walls in Euclidean space. The solutions are obtained analytically. Phase transitions are achieved from the associated fluctuation determinant, by the…
If we imagine rewinding the universe to early times, the scale factor shrinks and the existence of a finite spatial volume may play a role in quantum tunnelling effects in a closed universe. It has recently been shown that such finite…
We consider vacuum tunneling of a new kind where the false vacua are not translationally invariant, but have topological defects that break some of their translational symmetries. In the particular case where the topological defects are…
We consider classical Minkowskian solutions to the field equation in the (1+1) dimensional scalar model with the exponential interaction that describe the unsuppressed false vacuum decay induced by $n$ initial particles. We find that there…
We outline how to calculate the scalar damping term during a cosmological phase transition from kinetic theory. We determine the scalar damping rate from top quarks and weak gauge bosons in a Standard Model-like theory. We find that the…
We allow a scalar field on a flat FLRW background metric to tunnel between two degenerate vacua. The resulting true vacuum state then violates the Null Energy Condition, and the corresponding homogeneous fluid induces a bounce, after which…
We study the semiclassical fluctuation problem around bounce solutions for a self-interacting scalar field in curved space. As in flat space, the fluctuation problem separates into partial waves labeled by an integer l, and we determine the…
I describe a class of oscillating bounce solutions to the Euclidean field equations for gravity coupled to a scalar field theory with multiple vacua. I discuss their implications for vacuum tunneling transitions and for elucidating the…
We have considered a cosmological model with a phenomenological model for the cosmological constant of the form $\Lambda=\bt\fr{\ddot R}{R}$, $ \bt$ is a constant. For age parameter consistent with observational data the Universe must be…
The Standard Model Higgs potential may become unbounded from below at large field values, with important cosmological implications. For a potential of this form, the commonly assumed scenario of a nucleated thin-wall bubble driving the…
In this work, we derive an upper bound on energetic quantities, namely vacuum energy and free energy, for static solutions of Einstein-Scalar theory in four dimensional asymptotically locally Anti-de Sitter(AlAdS) spacetime with a…
We consider a dynamical approach to the cosmological constant. There is a scalar field with a potential whose minimum occurs at a generic, but negative, value for the vacuum energy, and it has a non-standard kinetic term whose coefficient…
The second quantization of a real massless scalar field in the presence of a material medium described by a Drude-like susceptibility is here examined in a 1+1 dimensional model. The modified vacuum fluctuations of this field imprint…
Recently we proposed a mechanism for sequestering the Standard Model vacuum energy that predicts that the universe will collapse. Here we present a simple mechanism for bringing about this collapse, employing a scalar field whose potential…
We investigate false vacuum decay catalysed by black holes under the influence of the higher order Gauss-Bonnet term. We study both bubble nucleation and Hawking-Moss types of phase transition in arbitrary dimension. The equations of motion…
Instantons, localised saddle points of the action, play an important role in describing non-perturbative aspects of quantum field theories, for example vacuum decay or violation of conservation laws associated with anomalous symmetries.…
Lower and upper bounds $B_a(x)$ on the incomplete gamma function $\Gamma(a,x)$ are given for all real $a$ and all real $x>0$. These bounds $B_a(x)$ are exact in the sense that $B_a(x)\underset{x\downarrow0}\sim\Gamma(a,x)$ and…
We study cosmological solutions of (pseudo)scalar theories with periodic potentials, in the presence of arbitrary cosmological fluids -- including a cosmological constant of either sign. Independently of the initial misalignment angle and…
When the vacuum state of a scalar or electromagnetic field is modified by the presence of a reflecting boundary, an interacting test particle undergoes velocity fluctuations. Such effect is regarded as a sort of quantum analog of the…