Related papers: Metastability in Two Dimensions and the Effective …
We address the problem of how to incorporate quantum effects into the calculation of finite-temperature decay rates for a metastable state of a quantum field theory. To do this, we consider the Gross-Neveu model with an explicit chiral…
The nucleation of bubbles in first-order phase transitions is traditionally characterised by the critical bubble: defined as the saddle-point solution of the Euclidean action that separates collapsing from expanding field configurations.…
We explore the nature of a certain type of supercooled phase transition, where the supercooling is guaranteed to end due to the curvature of the finite-temperature effective potential at the origin experiencing a sign flip at some…
If the universe is trapped and cooled in a metastable false vacuum state, that state will eventually decay by bubble nucleation and expansion. For example, many extensions of the standard model incorporate new scalar fields whose potential…
The well-known classical nucleation theory (CNT) for the free energy barrier towards formation of a nucleus of critical size of the new stable phase within the parent metastable phase fails to take into account the influence of other…
Structural and static properties of a classical two-dimensional (2D) system consisting of a finite number of charged particles which are laterally confined by a parabolic potential are investigated by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and the…
We study the Euclidean bounce action interpolating between a false and a true vacuum for a scalar field theory with various types of potential. We focus on the cases of a triangular, a square and a quadratic barrier, where the bounce action…
The pre-exponential factor in the probability of decay of a metastable vacuum is calculated for a generic (2+1) dimensional model in the limit of small difference $\epsilon$ of the energy density between the metastable and the stable vacua.…
We study metastability and nucleation for the Blume-Capel model: a ferromagnetic nearest neighbour two-dimensional lattice system with spin variables taking values in -1,0,+1. We consider large but finite volume, small fixed magnetic field…
Accuracy of the Kramers approximate formula for the thermal decay rate of the metastable state is studied for the two-dimensional potential pocket. This is done by the comparison with the quasistationary rate resulting from the dynamical…
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 issue of the nucleation and slow closure mechanisms of non superhelical stress-induced denaturation bubbles in DNA is tackled using coarse-grained MetaDynamics and Brownian simulations. A minimal mesoscopic model is used where the…
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…
Metastable quantum dynamics of an asymmetric triangular cluster that is coupled to a reservoir is investigated. The dynamics is governed by bath-mediated transitions, which in part require a thermal activation process. The decay rate is…
In this paper, we numerically study the impact heavy field degrees of freedom have on vacuum metastability in a toy model, with the aim of better understanding how the decoupling theorem extends to semiclassical processes. We observe that…
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…
We consider a model where a scalar field develops a metastable vacuum state and weakly interacts with another scalar field. In this situation we find the probability of decay of the false vacuum stimulated by the presence and collisions of…
A tunneling bounce driving the decay of a metastable vacuum must respect an integral constraint dictated by simple scaling arguments that is very useful to determine key properties of the bounce. After illustrating how this works in a…
We construct the thermal bounce solution in holographic models that describes first-order phase transitions between the deconfined and confined phases in strongly-coupled gauge theories. This new, periodic Euclidean solution represents…
First-order phase transitions occur through the nucleation of critical bubbles of the stable phase within the metastable phase. Using holography, we present a fully microscopic description of these bubbles in a strongly coupled,…