Related papers: Fake Instability in the Euclidean Formalism
Based on the new valley equation, we propose the most plausible method for constructing instanton-like configurations in the theory where the presence of a mass scale prevents the existence of the classical solution with a finite radius. We…
Instanton theory relates the rate constant for tunneling through a barrier to the periodic classical trajectory on the upturned potential energy surface whose period is $\tau=\hbar/(k_{\rm B}T)$. Unfortunately, the standard theory is only…
We study quantum mechanical tunneling using complex solutions of the classical field equations. Simple visualization techniques allow us to unify and generalize previous treatments, and straightforwardly show the connection to the standard…
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…
We are launching FindBounce, a Mathematica package for the evaluation of the Euclidean bounce action that enters the decay rate of metastable states in quantum and thermal field theories. It is based on the idea of polygonal bounces, which…
In the study of quantum-mechanical tunneling processes, numerous approaches have been developed to determine the decay rate of states initially confined within a metastable potential region. Virtually all analytical treatments, however,…
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…
Extreme events play a crucial role in fluid turbulence. Inspired by methods from field theory, these extreme events, their evolution and probability can be computed with help of the instanton formalism as minimizers of a suitable action…
In this paper we develop a general formalism of a path approach for non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. Firstly, we consider the classical Gibbs approach for states and find that this formalism is ineffective for non-equilibrium…
We show how to do semiclassical nonperturbative computations within the worldline approach to quantum field theory using ``worldline instantons''. These worldline instantons are classical solutions to the Euclidean worldline loop equations…
The instantonic approach for a $\phi^4$ model potential is reexamined in the asymptotic limit. The path integral of the system is derived in semiclassical approximation expanding the action around the classical background. It is shown that…
The path-integral approach to the double well has long been limited by the dilute instanton gas approximation. We show that if the finite Euclidean-time structure is taken seriously by using exact saddles, the dilute gas can be sidestepped,…
Instanton crystal is a fascinating phase which is encountered when the minimum of the free energy corresponds to a configuration with an imaginary-time-dependent order parameter in the form of a chain of alternating instantons and…
Stochastic systems often exhibit multiple viable metastable states that are long-lived. Over very long timescales, fluctuations may push the system to transition between them, drastically changing its macroscopic configuration. In realistic…
We perform path integral Monte Carlo simulations to study the imaginary time dynamics of metastable supercooled superfluid states and nearly superglassy states of a one component fluid of spinless bosons square wells. Our study shows that…
Background: Quantum tunneling in many-body systems is the subject of many experimental and theoretical studies in fields ranging from cold atoms to nuclear physics. However, theoretical description of quantum tunneling with strongly…
We develop semiclassical methods for studying bubble nucleation in models with parameters that vary slowly in time. Introducing a more general rotation of the time contour allows access to a larger set of final states, and typically a…
A quantum field theoretic formulation of the dynamics of the Contact Process on a regular graph of degree z is introduced. A perturbative calculation in powers of 1/z of the effective potential for the density of particles phi(t) and an…
In a previous paper [1], it was shown that the worldline expression for the nonperturbative imaginary part of the QED effective action can be approximated by the contribution of a special closed classical path in Euclidean spacetime, known…
How systems transit between different stable states under external perturbation is an important practical issue. We discuss here how a recently-developed energy optimization method for identifying the minimal disturbance necessary to reach…