Related papers: Aspects of the negative mode problem in quantum tu…
We review the description of tunnelling phenomena in the semi-classical approximation in ordinary quantum mechanics and in quantum field theory. In particular, we describe in detail the calculation, up to the first quantum corrections, of…
We study the temporal aspects of quantum tunneling as manifested in time-of-arrival experiments in which the detected particle tunnels through a potential barrier. In particular, we present a general method for constructing temporal…
We bring together the semiclassical approximation, matrix integrals and the theory of symmetric polynomials in order to solve a long standing problem in the field of quantum chaos: to compute transport moments when tunnel barriers are…
We show how a potential that is well-defined everywhere on the positive half-line, but diverges to $-\infty$ as $x\rightarrow 0^+$, may still be able to dynamically confine a particle to the (positive) half-line. We shall call this effect…
Certain exotic phenomena in general relativity, such as backward time travel, appear to require the presence of matter with negative energy. While quantum fields are a possible source of negative energy densities, there are lower bounds -…
Quantum tunneling in a many-body system is much more non-trivial than that in a one-body system. The most characteristic phenomenon is the mixed tunneling, which has been studied in many fields for decades. For instance, let us consider a…
Combining the quantum scale invariance with the absence of new degrees of freedom above the electroweak scale leads to stability of the latter against perturbative quantum corrections. Nevertheless, the hierarchy between the weak and the…
Recent LHC results concerning the mass of the Higgs boson indicate that the vacuum in our Universe may be unstable. We analyze properties of unstable vacuum states from the point of view of the quantum theory of unstable states. From the…
An improved Hamiltonian constraint operator is introduced in loop quantum cosmology. Quantum dynamics of the spatially flat, isotropic model with a massless scalar field is then studied in detail using analytical and numerical methods. The…
The vacuum cavity mode induces a potential barrier and a well when an ultra-slow excited atom enters the interaction region so that it can be reflected or transmitted with a certain probability. We demonstrate here that a slow-velocity…
In contrast to scalar and tensor modes, vector modes of linear perturbations around an expanding Friedmann--Robertson--Walker universe decay. This makes them largely irrelevant for late time cosmology, assuming that all modes started out at…
We discuss the O(4) invariant perturbation modes of cosmological instantons. These modes are spatially homogeneous in Lorentzian spacetime and thus not relevant to density perturbations. But their properties are important in establishing…
The Standard Model Higgs potential becomes unstable at large Higgs field values where its quartic coupling becomes negative. While the tunneling lifetime of our current electroweak vacuum is comfortably longer than the age of the universe,…
In Vilenkin's tunneling wavefunction proposal our expanding universe is born via a tunneling through a barrier from nothing at the zero scale factor. We explore the viability of this proposal for the spatially closed FLRW model with a…
Vacuum decay in de Sitter space is a process of great physical interest, as it allows to rule out cosmological models in the early and current Universe. Its rate may be described in terms of an instanton in Euclidean space called bounce and…
The claim that at the so-called Planck scale our current physics breaks down and a new theory of quantum gravity is required is ubiquitous, but the evidence is shakier than the confidence of those assertions warrants. In this paper, I…
We discuss the vacuum energy density term resulting from the spontaneous breakdown of the electroweak gauge symmetry, in the Higgs Mechanism. We alternatively expand the scalar field at one of the degenerate states that lie outside the…
The origin of negative pressure fluid (the dark energy) is investigated in the quantum model of the homogeneous, isotropic and closed universe filled with a uniform scalar field and a perfect fluid which defines a reference frame. The…
In the present letter, we consider the DeBroglie-Bohm interpretation of quantum Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models in the presence of a negative cosmological constant and cosmic strings. We compute the Bohm's trajectories and quantum…
Quantum field theory allows for the suppression of vacuum fluctuations, leading to sub-vacuum phenomena. One of these is the appearance of local negative energy density. Selected aspects of negative energy will be reviewed, including the…