Related papers: Vacuum Decay Induced by False Skyrmions
We consider the thermodynamics of chiral models in the mean-field approximation and discuss the relevance of the (frequently omitted) fermion vacuum loop. Within the chiral quark-meson model and its Polyakov loop extended version, we show…
We re-examine the problem of vacuum decay in the presence of spherically symmetric black holes. Within the semiclassical approximation, we study configurations describing a bubble of true vacuum propagating outside a black hole formed from…
We study the contribution of the torsion-descendent four-fermion contact interaction to the decay width of a neutral (pseudo)scalar field into a fermion pair. This new interaction comes from the existence of gravitational torsion in models…
We present a fully analytical calculation of the false vacuum decay rate for a self-interacting scalar field in the thin-wall approximation. We obtain the bounce solution, together with the Euclidean action, counter-terms and…
The unconstrained reduced action corresponding to the dynamics of scalar fluctuations about the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) background is derived using Dirac's method of description of singular Lagrangian systems. The results are…
Consistency of the unconventional view of de Sitter space as a quantum theory of gravity with a finite number of degrees of freedom requires that Coleman-De Luccia tunneling rates to vacua with negative cosmological constant should be…
As originally described by Rubakov, particles are produced during the tunneling of a metastable quantum field. We propose to extend his formalism to compute the backreaction of these particles on the semiclassical decay probability of the…
A fluid of Skyrmions coupled to the dilaton field and the $\o$ meson field is considered. A mean field theory is developed in which the dilaton and the $\o$ field acquire a mean value determined by the Skyrmions. The influence of the…
We study the effects of gravitationally-driven decoherence on tunneling processes associated with false vacuum decays, such as the Coleman--De~Luccia instanton. We compute the thermal graviton-induced decoherence rate for a wave function…
Motivated by the work of Mersini, the particle production related to the tunneling in false vacuum decay is carefully investigated in the thin-wall approximation. It is shown that in this case the particle production is exponentially…
Quantum fluctuations of the vacuum are both a surprising and fundamental phenomenon of nature. Understood as virtual photons flitting in and out of existence, they still have a very real impact, \emph{e.g.}, in the Casimir effects and the…
We show that it is possible to realize an inflationary scenario even without conversion of the false vacuum energy to radiation. Such cosmological models have a deflationary stage in which $Ha^2$ is decreasing and radiation produced by…
We study the false vacuum decay and bubble nucleation in the presence of a cosmic string in dS spacetime. A cosmic string induces a deficit angle in spacetime around itself so the nucleated bubble has the shape of a rugby ball. Working in…
We study the decay of "false" domain walls, which are metastable states of the quantum theory where the true vacuum is trapped inside the wall, with the false vacuum outside. We consider a theory with two scalar fields, a shepherd field and…
We develop semiclassical methods for studying bubble nucleation in models with parameters that vary slowly in time. Introducing a more general rotation of the time contour allows access to a larger set of final states, and typically a…
We discuss scalar mesons properties on the light of chiral dynamics. Considering them as the chiral partners of pseudo-scalar mesons we propose an explanation to their unusual properties based on non-trivial vacuum effects coming from the…
Stringy effects on vacuum transitions are shown to include surprisingly large decay rates through very high potential barriers. This simple, yet counter-intuitive result will drastically modify the measure on the landscape of string vacua.
We evaluate the one-loop prefactor in the false vacuum decay rate in a theory of a self interacting scalar field in 3+1 dimensions. We use a numerical method, established some time ago, which is based on a well-known theorem on functional…
The Skyrme model, an effective low energy theory rooted in large $N_c$ QCD, has been applied to the study of dense matter. Matter is described by various crystal structures of skyrmions. When this system is heated, the dominating thermal…
We explore the fate of the universe given the possibility that the density associated with `dark energy' may decay slowly with time. Decaying dark energy is modeled by a homogeneous scalar field which couples minimally to gravity and whose…