Related papers: Parametrized Path Approach to Vacuum Decay
Three different methods viz. i) a perturbative analysis of the Schr\"odinger equation ii) abstract differential geometric method and iii) a semiclassical reduction of the Wheeler-Dewitt equation, relating Pancharatnam phase to vacuum…
We introduce a new picture of vacuum decay which, in contrast to existing semiclassical techniques, provides a real-time description and does not rely on classically-forbidden tunneling paths. Using lattice simulations, we observe vacuum…
False vacuum decay in field theory may be formulated as a boundary value problem in Euclidean space. In a previous work, we studied its solution in single scalar field theories with quadratic gravity and used it to find obstructions to…
We formulate a stochastic generalisation of the Schwinger effect, extending pair production to statistically fluctuating gauge-field backgrounds. Our approach captures realistic field configurations that are transient, inhomogeneous, and…
We discuss particle production associated with vacuum decay, which changes the mass of a scalar field coupled to a background field which induces the decay. By utilizing the Stokes phenomenon, we can optimally track the time-evolution of…
We investigate false vacuum decay of a relativistic scalar field initialized in the metastable minimum of an asymmetric double-well potential. The transition to the true ground state is a well-defined initial-value problem in real time,…
A procedure is reported for numerical analysis of false vacuum transition in a model with multiple scalar fields. It is a refined version of the approach by Konstandin and Huber. The alteration makes it possible to tackle a class of…
We develop a new method for estimating the decay probability of the false vacuum via regularized instantons. Namely, we consider the case where the potential is either unbounded from below or the second minimum corresponding to the true…
We analyze the long-time quantum dynamics of degenerate parametric down-conversion from an initial sub-harmonic vacuum (spontaenous down-conversion). Standard linearization of the Heisenberg equations of motions fails in this case, since it…
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…
We use analytic estimates and numerical simulations to explore the stochastic approach to vacuum decay. According to this approach, the time derivative of a scalar field, which is in a local vacuum state, develops a large fluctuation and…
We present a systematic framework for calculating the vacuum decay rate in D-dimensional electroweak theories, providing a unified treatment of quantum fluctuations for scalar, fermion, and gauge boson fields via a combined WKB expansion…
We study the contribution to vacuum decay in field theory due to the interaction between the long and short-wavelength modes of the field. The field model considered consists of a scalar field of mass $M$ with a cubic term in the potential.…
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…
False vacuum decay, a quantum mechanical first-order phase transition in scalar field theories, is an important phenomenon in early universe cosmology. Recently, real-time semi-classical techniques based on ensembles of lattice simulations…
We obtain exact solutions to the class of parabolic partial differential equations of arbitrary dimensionality and with arbitrary potentials. The solutions are presented in a compact-form: as explicit mathematical expressions consisting of…
In an effective Lagrangian approach to QCD we nonperturbatively calculate an analytic approximation to the decay rate of a false vacuum per unit volume, $\Gamma/V$. We do so for both zero and high temperature theories. This result is…
We explore the problem of time in quantum gravity in a point-particle analogue model of scale-invariant gravity. If quantized after reduction to true degrees of freedom, it leads to a time-independent Schr\"odinger equation. As with the…
At strong-coupling and weak-field limit, the scalar Schwinger effect is studied by the field-theoretical method of worldline instantons for dynamic fields of single-pulse and sinusoidal types. By examining the Wilson loop along the closed…
The decay rate of a metastable vacuum is usually calculated using a semiclassical approximation to the Euclidean path integral. The extension to a complete Euclidean lattice Monte Carlo computation, however, is hampered by analytic…