Related papers: Pseudo-Bounces vs. New Instantons
The balance of pseudomomentum is discussed and applied to simple elasticity, ideal fluids, and the mechanics of inextensible rods and sheets. A general framework is presented in which the simultaneous variation of an action with respect to…
We identify an infinite class of unbounded potentials for which the Coleman instantons do not exist in D-dimensional spacetime. For such potentials, the decay of a false vacuum is described by the new instantons introduced in [5,6,4]. For…
We identify a new class of UV-complete instanton solutions that describe the false vacuum\- decay of a real scalar field in a particular curved spacetime background. To this end, we consider a simple scalar theory with a Coleman potential…
Under the hypothesis that the cosmological constant vanishes in the true ground state with lowest possible energy density, we argue that the observed small but finite vacuum-like energy density can be explained if we consider a theory with…
We study the problem of false vacuum decay in arbitrary dimensions, in the presence of gravity, and compute the transition probability within the thin-wall approximation, generalising the results of Coleman and de Luccia. In the particular…
We investigate in detail the properties of oscillating instanton solutions discussed recently in the literature. We find that the solutions with N nodes contain exactly N homogeneous negative modes in their spectrum of linear perturbations.…
We present a new way to compute and interpret quantum tunneling in a 1-D double-well potential. For large transition time we show that the quantum action functional gives an analytical expression for tunneling amplitudes. This has been…
We investigate the cosmological signatures of instantons mediating tunneling between de Sitter minima. For generic potentials the Coleman-de Luccia instanton does not necessarily exist; when it does not, the instanton which contributes to…
I point out that the usual Coleman-de Luccia analysis of tunnelling via instantons between perturbatively stable minima using the thin-wall approximation misses one of the effects of gravitational backreaction on the on-shell action and…
It has recently been shown in high resolution numerical simulations that relativistic collisions of bubbles in the context of a multi-vacua potential may lead to the creation of bubbles in a new vacuum. In this paper, we show that scalar…
This paper is a pedagogical yet critical introduction to the quantum description of unstable systems, mostly at the level of a graduate quantum mechanics course. Quantum decays appear in many different fields of physics, and their…
Instantons, localised saddle points of the action, play an important role in describing non-perturbative aspects of quantum field theories, for example vacuum decay or violation of conservation laws associated with anomalous symmetries.…
Processes leading to anomalous fluctuations in turbulent flows, referred to as intermittency, are still challenging. We consider cascade trajectories through scales as realizations of a stochastic Langevin process for which multiplicative…
We discuss models in which vacua other than our own can be directly observed in the present universe. Models with density-dependent vacuum structure can give rise to `non-lethal'-vacua: vacua with lower energy-density than our vacuum, but…
An Euclidean bounce describing vacuum decay can be considered as an infinite stack of concentric thin shells to which a thin-wall action can be assigned. The integral over all shells produces then a tunneling action that is precisely the…
We study the effects of a fixed de Sitter geometry background in scenarios of false vacuum decay. It is currently understood that bubble nucleation processes associated with first order phase transitions are particularly important in…
We consider a wide class of cascading gauge theories which usually lead to runaway behaviour in the IR, and discuss possible deformations of the superpotential at the bottom of the cascade which stabilize the runaway direction and provide…
Pseudoscalars appearing in particle physics are reviewd systematically. From the fundamental point of view at an ultra-violat completed theory, they can be light if they are realized as pseudo-Goldstone bosons of some spontaneously broken…
The rate and manner of vacuum decay are calculated in an explicit flux compactification, including all thick-wall and gravitational effects. For landscapes built of many units of a single flux, the fastest decay is usually to discharge just…
We show that when a topological defect with extended world-volume annihilates with an anti-defect, there arise topological defects with dimensions less than those of the original defects by one. Domain wall annihilations create vortices…