Related papers: False vacuum decay in de Sitter space-time
We study the gauge invariance of the decay rate of the false vacuum for the model in which the scalar field responsible for the false vacuum decay has gauge quantum number. In order to calculate the decay rate, one should integrate out the…
The quantum break-time of a system is the time-scale after which its true quantum evolution departs from the classical mean field evolution. For capturing it, a quantum resolution of the classical background - e.g., in terms of a coherent…
Because of the presence of a cosmological horizon the dilute instanton gas approximation used for the derivation of the Coleman-De Luccia tunneling rate in de Sitter spacetime receives additional contributions due to the finite instanton…
Properties of unstable false vacuum states are analyzed from the point of view of the quantum theory of unstable states. Some of false vacuum states survive up to times when their survival probability has a non-exponential form. At times…
In quantum field theory, the decay of an extended metastable state into the real ground state is known as ``false vacuum decay'' and it takes place via the nucleation of spatially localized bubbles. Despite the large theoretical effort to…
To resolve infrared problems with the de~Sitter invariant vacuum, we argue that the history of the de~Sitter phase is crucial. We illustrate how either (1)~the diagonalization of the Hamiltonian for long-wavelength modes or (2)~an explicit…
We propose an ultracold atom analogue of early universe vacuum decay using all three states of a spin-1 Bose gas. We consider a one-dimensional system with both radio frequency and optical Raman coupling between internal states. An…
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…
The influence of the shape of scalar field potential on the outcome of vacuum decay in de Sitter universe is studied. Sufficient condition for vacuum decay via bubble formation, described by Coleman - de Luccia instanton, is revisited and…
We apply the Lorentzian path integral to the decay of a false vacuum and estimate the false-vacuum decay rate. To make the Lorentzian path integral convergent, the deformation of an integral contour is performed by following the…
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…
In a recently proposed Higgs-Seesaw model the observed scale of dark energy results from a metastable false vacuum energy associated with mixing of the standard model Higgs particle and a scalar associated with new physics at the GUT or…
We discuss the notion that quantum fields may induce an effective time-dependent cosmological constant which decays from a large initial value. It is shown that such cosmological models are viable in a non-de Sitter spacetime.
We study the negative modes of gravitational instantons representing vacuum decay in asymptotically flat space-time. We consider two different vacuum decay scenarios: the Coleman-de Luccia $\mathrm{O}(4)$-symmetric bubble, and…
It is shown how metastable de Sitter vacua might arise from heterotic M-theory. The balancing of its two non-perturbative effects, open membrane instantons against gaugino condensation on the hidden boundary, which act with opposing forces…
Semi-classical states for the Wheeler-DeWitt equation of a Bianchi type I model in the presence of a scalar field are analyzed. It is outlined how this scheme can effectively describe more general situations, where the curvature of the…
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…
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…
We consider a single real scalar field in flat spacetime with a polynomial potential up to $\phi^4$, that has a local minimum, the false vacuum, and a deeper global minimum, the true vacuum. When the vacua are almost degenerate we are in…
Metastable states decay at zero temperature through quantum tunneling at an exponentially small rate, which depends on the Coleman-de Luccia instanton, also known as bounce. In some theories, the bounce may not exist or its on-shell action…