Related papers: Density Induced Vacuum Instability
The possibility that the energy density of the Universe is dominated by a network of low-tension domain walls provides an alternative to the commonly discussed cosmological constant and scalar-field quintessence models of dark energy. We…
A large fraction of stars forming in our galaxy are born within clusters embedded in giant molecular clouds. In these environments, the background UV radiation fields impinging upon circumstellar disks can often dominate over the radiation…
Observations show that galaxies and their interstellar media are pervaded by strong magnetic fields with energies in the diffuse component being at least comparable to the thermal and even as large or larger than the turbulent energy. Such…
The probability of destruction of a metastable vacuum state by the field of a highly virtual particle with energy $E$ is calculated for a (3+1) dimensional theory in the leading WKB approximation in the thin-wall limit. It is found that the…
We show that our Universe may be inhomogeneous on large sub-horizon scales without us being able to realise it. We assume that a network of domain walls permeates the universe dividing it in domains with slightly different vacuum energy…
We consider a large class of nonlinear diffusive systems with nonlocal coupling. By using a non-perturbative analytical approach we are able to determine the convective and absolute instabilities of all the uniform states of these systems.…
We discuss the dynamics of expanding bubble walls in the presence of massive dark photons whose mass changes as they cross the wall. For sufficiently thin walls, we show that there exists a transient kinematic regime characterized by a…
Massive stars form in clusters within self-gravitating molecular clouds. The size scale of these clusters is sufficiently large that non-thermal, or turbulent, motions of the gas must be taken into account when considering their formation.…
Metastable phases may be spontaneously formed from other metastable phases through nucleation. Here we demonstrate the spontaneous formation of a metastable phase from an unstable equilibrium by spinodal decomposition, which leads to a…
We study the dynamics of false vacuum bubbles. A nonminimally coupled scalar field gives rise to the effect of negative tension. The mass of a false vacuum bubble from outside observer's point of view can be positive, zero, or negative. The…
Exact results stemming directly from Einstein equations imply that inhomogeneous Universes endowed with vanishing pressure density can only decelerate, unless the energy density of the Universe becomes negative. Recent proposals seem to…
This chapter concentrates on the deaths of very massive stars, the events leading up to their deaths, and how mass loss affects the resulting death. The previous three chapters emphasized the theory of wind mass loss, eruptions, and core…
We perform a dynamical system analysis of a cosmological model with linear dependence between the vacuum density and the Hubble parameter, with constant-rate creation of dark matter. We show that the de Sitter spacetime is an asymptotically…
A mechanism for suppressing the cosmological constant is developed, based on an analogy with a superconducting phaseshift in which free fermions coupled perturbatively to a weak gravitational field are in an unstable false vacuum state. The…
The eccentric orbits of the known extrasolar giant planets provide evidence that most planet-forming environments undergo violent dynamical instabilities. Here, we numerically simulate the impact of giant planet instabilities on planetary…
This talk reviews our recent work showing how tiny black holes can act as nucleation sites for the decay of the metastable Higgs vacuum. We start by discussing the formation of thin wall bubbles of true vacuum inside a false vacuum, and…
We propose a phenomenological generalization of the models of large-scale structure formation in the Universe by gravitational instability in two ways: we include pressure forces to model multi-streaming, and noise to model fluctuations due…
Equation of state for systems with particles self-assembling into aggregates is derived within a mesoscopic theory combining density functional and field-theoretic approaches. We focus on the effect of mesoscopic fluctuations in the…
Analyzing quantum cosmological scenarios containing one scalar field with exponential potential, we have obtained a universe model which realizes a classical dust contraction from very large scales, the initial repeller of the model, and…
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…