Related papers: Tunneling Potentials to Nothing
We obtain a general spherically symmetric solution of a null dust fluid in $n (\geq 4)$-dimensions in Gauss-Bonnet gravity. This solution is a generalization of the $n$-dimensional Vaidya-(anti)de Sitter solution in general relativity. For…
Braneworlds, understood here as double domain wall spacetimes, can be described in terms of a linear harmonic function, with kinks at the locations of the boundary branes. In a dynamical setting, there is therefore the risk that the…
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.…
The quantum decay of a relativistic scalar field from a metastable state ("false vacuum decay") is a fundamental idea in quantum field theory and cosmology. This occurs via local formation of bubbles of true vacuum with their subsequent…
Using numerical and analytic methods, we study quantum tunneling from a Minkowski false vacuum to an anti-de Sitter true vacuum. Scanning the parameter space of theories with quartic and non-polynomial potentials, we find that for any given…
We investigate various types of Fubini instantons in Dilatonic Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory of gravitation, which describe the decay of the vacuum state at a hilltop potential through the tunneling without a barrier. It is shown that the…
The Standard Model Higgs potential may become unbounded from below at large field values, with important cosmological implications. For a potential of this form, the commonly assumed scenario of a nucleated thin-wall bubble driving the…
We present a simple and intuitive description of both, the Schwinger effect and false vacuum decay through bubble nucleation, as tunneling problems in one-dimensional relativistic quantum mechanics. Both problems can be described by an…
Small black holes are a powerful tool to explore infinite distances in moduli spaces. However, we show that in 4d theories with a scalar potential growing fast enough at infinity, it is energetically too costly for scalars to diverge at the…
We study a novel class of nonsingular time-symmetric cosmological bounces. In this class of four dimensional models the bounce is induced by a perfect fluid with a negative energy density. Metric perturbations are solved in an analytic way…
We investigate quantum tunneling in the theory of a complex scalar field with a global $U(1)$ symmetry when the charge density of the initial configuration does not vanish. We discuss the possible final configurations and set up the…
We consider the generalisation of quantum tunneling transitions in the WKB approximation to the time-independent functional Schr\"odinger and Wheeler-DeWitt equations. Following a Lorentzian approach, we compute the transition rates among…
Quasiclassical methods are used to define dynamical tunneling times in models of quantum cosmological bounces. These methods provide relevant new information compared with the traditional treatment of quantum tunneling by means of tunneling…
We discuss quantum tunneling between classically BPS saturated solitons in two-dimensional theories with N=2 supersymmetry and a compact space dimension. Genuine BPS states form shortened multiplets of dimension two. In the models we…
Einstein's field equations with variable gravitational and cosmological ``constant'' are considered in presence of perfect fluid for Bianchi type-I spacetime. Consequences of the four cases of the phenomenological decay of $\Lambda$ have…
In models of spacetime that are the product of a four-dimensional spacetime with an ``extra'' dimension, there is the possibility that the extra dimension will collapse to zero size, forming a singularity. We ask whether this collapse is…
Quantum theory of the intraband resonant tunneling of a Bose-Einstein condensate loaded in a twodimensional optical lattice is considered. It is shown that the phenomena of quantum collapse and revival can be observed in the fully quantum…
The spectrum of small perturbations about oscillating bounce solutions recently discussed in the literature is investigated. Our study supports quite intuitive and expected result: the bounce with N nodes has exactly N homogeneous negative…
Singularity of the potential function makes quantum tunneling problem mathematically underdetermined. To circumvent the difficulties it introduced in physics, a potential singularity cutoff is often used, followed by a reverse limit…
We study false vacuum decays catalysed by magnetic monopoles which act as tunnelling sites with exponentially enhanced decay rates. The field profiles describing the decay do not have the typically assumed $O(3)/O(4)$ symmetry, thus…