Related papers: Instantons in Large Order of the Perturbative Seri…
The elucidation of the properties of the instantons in the topologically trivial sector has been a long-standing puzzle. Here we claim that the properties can be summarized in terms of the geometrical structure in the configuration space,…
A path integral over trajectories of $2n$ fluid particles is identified with a $2n$-th order correlation function of a passive scalar convected by $d$-dimensional short-correlated multi-scale incompressible random velocity flow. Strong…
We describe in detail a physical situation in which instantons are necessarily complex, not just Wick rotations of classical solutions to Euclidean spacetime. These complex instantons arise in the semiclassical evaluation of vacuum pair…
In quantum mechanics and quantum field theory perturbation theory generically requires the inclusion of extra contributions non-perturbative in the coupling, such as instantons, to reproduce exact results. We show how full non-perturbative…
We study the path-integral formalism in the imaginary-time to show its validity in a case with a metastable ground state. The well-known method based on the bounce solution leads to the imaginary part of the energy even for a state that is…
The Euclidean path integral quite often involves an action that is not completely real {\it i.e.} a complex action. This occurs when the Minkowski action contains $t$-odd CP-violating terms. Analytic continuation to Euclidean time yields an…
Instantons and renormalons play important roles at the interface between perturbative and non-perturbative quantum field theory. They are both associated with branch points in the Borel transform of asymptotic series, and as such can be…
Nontrivial topological structures of non-Abelian gauge fields were discovered in the 1970's. Instanton solutions, describing vacuum tunneling through topological barriers, have fermionic zero modes which are at the origin of $^\prime$t…
We describe a new family of thin-wall instantons, with negative tension bubble walls, that mediate tunneling between Minkowski or de Sitter vacua. Some of these instantons can have exponentially enhanced tunneling rates, and would dominate…
Sphalerons -- unstable static solutions of classical field equations in (d+1)-dimensional space-time -- may be viewed as euclidean solutions in d dimensions. We discuss their role in the large order asymptotics of the perturbation theory.…
Instantons are tunneling solutions that connect two vacua, and under a small change in the potential, instantons sometimes disappear. We classify these disappearances as smooth (decay rate goes to 0 at disappearance) or abrupt (decay rate…
Processes leading to anomalous fluctuations in turbulent flows, referred to as intermittency, are still challenging. We consider cascade trajectories through scales as realizations of a stochastic Langevin process for which multiplicative…
Tunnel splitting oscillations in magnetic molecules are reconsidered within the simplest model for the problem, which does not contain fourth order anisotropy. It is shown that at large magnetic field, there is only one instanton, and it is…
The path integral, which generates in-in correlation functions of a scalar field in a cosmological spacetime, is shown to admit nontrivial classical solutions as stationary phases. Although the solutions exist for Lorentzian signature,…
In Euclidean path integrals, quantum mechanical tunneling amplitudes are associated with instanton configurations. We explain how tunneling amplitudes are encoded in real-time Feynman path integrals. The essential steps are borrowed from…
We review the euclidean path-integral formalism in connection with the one-dimensional non-relativistic particle. The configurations which allow to construct a semiclassical approximation classify themselves into either topological…
Instantons play a crucial role in understanding non-perturbative dynamics in quantum field theories, including those with spontaneously broken gauge symmetries. In the broken phase, finite-size instanton-like configurations are no longer…
We discuss new bounce-like (but non-time-reversal-invariant-) solutions to Euclidean equations of motion, which we dub boomerons. In the Euclidean path integral approach to quantum theories, boomerons make an imaginary contribution to the…
A general quantum mechanical or quantum field theoretical system in the path integral formulation has both real and complex saddles (instantons and ghost-instantons). Resurgent asymptotic analysis implies that both types of saddles…
We discuss the O(4) invariant perturbation modes of cosmological instantons. These modes are spatially homogeneous in Lorentzian spacetime and thus not relevant to density perturbations. But their properties are important in establishing…