Related papers: Gravitational Decoupling and Picard-Lefschetz
Chain Inflation is an alternative to slow roll inflation in which the universe undergoes a series of transitions between different vacua. The density perturbations (studied in this paper) are seeded by the probabilistic nature of tunneling…
For hybrid inflationary potentials, we derive the tunneling rate from field configurations along the flat direction towards the waterfall regime. This process competes with the classically rolling evolution of the scalar fields and needs to…
In this brief review we introduce the methods of quantum field theory out of equilibrium and study the non-equilibrium aspects of phase transitions. Specifically we critically study the picture of the ``slow-roll'' phase transition in the…
We consider the cosmological model of a self-interacting $\phi^4 - \phi^2$ quantum scalar field and extend our previous results, [3], on resonant tunneling and consequent particle production, to the case of finite temperature. Using the…
We investigate quantum tunneling in the theory of a complex scalar field with a global $U(1)$ symmetry when the charge density of the initial configuration does not vanish. We discuss the possible final configurations and set up the…
Gravitational path-integral over $\mathbb{R}\times S^3$ complex metrics with fluctuations is studied in 4D for Einstein-Hilbert gravity in Lorentzian signature, with the aim to investigate the IR properties of complex saddles for various…
We analyse a variety of Euclidean saddles in the gravitational path integral, with asymptotic AdS boundary conditions, in a class of Einstein-Scalar-Maxwell models. These include single boundary solutions, usual and wineglass wormholes, as…
No-boundary instantons and Euclidean "wineglass" wormholes have both been proposed as providing suitable initial conditions for the current expanding phase of our universe, and in particular for providing conditions that are favorable to an…
The double-well potential is a good example, where we can compute the splitting in the bound state energy of the system due to the tunneling effect with various methods, namely WKB or instanton calculations. All these methods are…
The QCD axion in the pre-inflation scenario faces a stringent isocurvature constraint, which requires a relatively low Hubble scale during inflation. If the axion was heavier than the Hubble scale during inflation, its isocurvature is…
We show that theories of inflation with multiple, rapidly turning fields can generate large amounts of non-Gaussianity. We consider a general theory with two fields, an arbitrary field-space metric, and a potential that supports sustained,…
We present the calculation of the Feynman path integral in real time for tunneling in quantum mechanics and field theory, including the first quantum corrections. For this purpose, we use the well-known fact that Euclidean saddle points in…
We study a model for ultracold, spinless atoms in quasi-one dimensional optical lattices and subjected to a tunable tilting force. Statistical tests are employed to quantitatively characterize the spectrum of the Floquet-Bloch operator of…
The Ueda-Guinea model of a dissipative tunnel junction is investigated. This model accounts for final state effects associated with single-electron tunneling. A quantum phase transition emerges, marking a boundary between insulating…
Monte Carlo simulations of the 4-dimensional compact U(1) lattice gauge theory in the neighborhood of the transition point are made difficult by the suppression of tunneling between the phases, which becomes very strong as soon as the…
The Coleman formula for vacuum decay and bubble nucleation has been used to estimate the tunneling rate in models of axion monodromy in recent literature. However, several of Coleman's original assumptions do not hold for such models. Here…
Within the so-called scaled quantum theory, the standard bouncing ball problem is analyzed under the presence of a gravitational field and harmonic potential. In this framework, the quantum-classical transition of the density matrix is…
The Wheeler-DeWitt equation is investigated and used to examine a state after a quantum tunneling with gravity. To make arguments definite we treat a discretized version of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation and adopt the WKB method. We expand an…
We explore the three-point amplitude of curvature perturbations in scenarios suggested by high-scale supersymmetry breaking in String Theory, where the inflaton is forced to climb a steep exponential potential. We can do it at the price of…
Bistability of nonlinear resonantly driven oscillator in the presence of external noise is analyzed by means of classical Fokker-Planck equation in quasienergy space with account for tunneling effects and by quantum master equation in…