Related papers: Real-time dynamics of false vacuum decay
In the standard lore the decay of the false vacuum of a single-field potential is described by a semi-classical Euclidean bounce configuration that can be found using overshoot/undershoot algorithms, and whose action suppresses…
The quantum decay of a metastable vacuum is exponentially suppressed by a tunneling action that can be calculated in the semi-classical approximation as the Euclidean action of a bounce that interpolates between the false and true phases.…
We consider the initial value problem and its renormalisation in the framework of the two-particle-irreducible (2PI) effective action. We argue that in the case of appropriately chosen self-consistent initial conditions, the counterterms…
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…
We discuss here phase transitions in quantum field theory in the context of vacuum realignment through an explicit construction. Vacuum destabilisation may occur through a scalar attaining a nonzero expectation value, or through a…
We present a study of the decay of metastable states of a scalar field via thermal activation, in the presence of a finite density of fermions. The process we consider is the nucleation of ``{\it droplets}'' of true vacuum inside the false…
The nonperturbative real-time evolution of quantum fields out of equilibrium is often solved using a mean-field or Hartree approximation or by applying effective action methods. In order to investigate the validity of these truncations, we…
We point out that the (pseudo-)conformal Universe scenario may be realized as decay of conformally invariant, metastable vacuum, which proceeds via spontaneous nucleation and subsequent growth of a bubble of a putative new phase. We study…
We discuss the renormalization of the initial value problem in Nonequilibrium Quantum Field Theory within a simple, yet instructive, example and show how to obtain a renormalized time evolution for the two-point functions of a scalar field…
Recently, a novel phenomenon is observed for vacuum decay to proceed via classically allowed dynamical evolution from initial configurations of false vacuum fluctuations. With the help of some occasionally developed large fluctuations in…
The rate of the trace distance is used to evaluate quantum speed-up for arbitrary mixed states. Compared with some present methods, the approach based on trace distance can provide an optimal bound to the speed of the evolution. The…
We discuss an exact false vacuum decay rate at one loop for a real and complex scalar field in a quartic-quartic potential with two tree-level minima. The bounce solution is used to compute the functional determinant from both fluctuations.…
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…
The decay rate of the Bunch-Davies state of a massive scalar field in the expanding flat spatial sections of de Sitter space is determined by an analysis of the particle pair creation process in real time. The Feynman definition of particle…
This thesis is devoted to studying aspects of real-time nonequilibrium dynamics in quantum field theory by implementing an initial value formulation of quantum field theory. The main focus is on the linear relaxation of mean fields and…
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…
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…
We investigate the details of the canonical quantization of effective quantum field theories in anti-de Sitter spacetime, emphasizing the stability of the quantum vacuum. We take the scalar and Maxwell fields as examples. For the…
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…
In a scalar field theory, when the tree level potential admits broken symmetry ground states, the quantum corrections to the static effective potential are complex. (The imaginary part is a consequence of an instability towards phase…