Related papers: Tunneling in quantum field theory with spontaneous…
We compute tunneling in a quantum field theory in 1+1 dimensions for a field potential $U(\Phi)$ of the asymmetric double well type. The system is localized initially in the ``false vacuum''. We consider the case of a {\em compact space}…
We present a new picture of global symmetry breaking in quantum field theory and propose a novel realization of symmetry breaking phenomena in terms of the conserved charge associated with its symmetry. In particular, the fermion condensate…
Quantum mechanics makes the otherwise stable vacua of a theory metastable through the nucleation of bubbles of the new vacuum. This in turn causes a first order phase transition. These cosmological phase transitions may have played an…
The mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking in quantum systems is briefly reviewed, rectifying part of the standard wisdom on logical and mathematical grounds. The crucial role of the localization properties of the time evolution for the…
We prove a Goldstone Theorem in thermal relativistic quantum field theory, which relates spontaneous symmetry breaking to the rate of space-like decay of the two-point function. The critical rate of fall-off coincides with that of the…
We review the description of tunnelling phenomena in the semi-classical approximation in ordinary quantum mechanics and in quantum field theory. In particular, we describe in detail the calculation, up to the first quantum corrections, of…
Tunneling in quantum field theory is worth understanding properly, not least because it controls the long term fate of our universe. There are however, a number of features of tunneling rate calculations which lack a desirable transparency,…
A semiclassical picture of spontaneous symmetry breaking in light front field theory is formulated. It is based on a finite-volume quantization of self-interacting scalar fields obeying antiperiodic boundary conditions. This choice avoids a…
We find the novel effect on the decay of a false vacuum in view of quantum field theory, which is induced by a field coupling to the scalar field related to a first-order phase transition. This effect of the environment can never be…
We consider the decay of "false kinks," that is, kinks formed in a scalar field theory with a pair of degenerate symmetry-breaking false vacua in 1+1 dimensions. The true vacuum is symmetric. A second scalar field and a peculiar potential…
The decay rates of quasistable states in quantum field theories are usually calculated using instanton methods. Standard derivations of these methods rely in a crucial way upon deformations and analytic continuations of the physical…
We recently investigated the nature of resonant tunnelling in standard scalar Quantum Field Theory, uncovering the conditions required for resonance. It was shown that whereas the homogeneous false vacuum may decay via bubble nucleation, it…
Continuously self-similar solution of spherically symmetric gravitational collapse of a scalar field is studied to investigate quantum mechanical black hole formation by tunneling in the subcritical case where, classically, the collapse…
Motivated by our earlier argument that the apparent large cosmological constant from quantum fluctuations is actually an artifact of not using a full quantum mechanical superposition to determine the ground state in which the universe lives…
Tunneling is an iconic concept that captures the peculiarity of quantum dynamics but, despite its ubiquity, questions remain. We focus on strong-field tunneling, which is vital to all attosecond science. We find an unexpected optical…
The quantum field theory for a massless scalar field on a two-dimensional non-singular black hole spacetime gives a non-vanishing probability for a particle to tunnel out of the black hole. The black hole spacetime contains an outer and an…
It is shown that, to the lowest order in $\hbar,$ the particle production related to the tunneling that leads to the false vacuum decay is described by the orthogonal part of fluctuation field with respect to the bounce solution. As a…
Motivated by cosmological examples we study quantum field theoretical tunnelling from an initial state where the "classical field", i.e. the vacuum expectation value of the field operator is spatially homogeneous but performing a…
We discuss the well-known phenomenon of spontaneous symmetry breaking for a linear sigma model for scalar and pseudoscalar mesons based on the meson composite structure and the normalization of the quantum states. To test our formulation…
We describe a new method which allows one to evaluate the false vacuum decay rate for a general potential which may depend on an arbitrary number of scalar fields.