Related papers: Relation between Tunneling and Particle Production…
We study the dynamical evolution of a phase interface or bubble in the context of a \lambda \phi^4 + g \phi^6 scalar quantum field theory. We use a self-consistent mean-field approximation derived from a 2PI effective action to construct an…
We examine the noise-induced transition in a fluctuating bistable potential of a driven quantum system in thermal equilibrium. Making use of a Wigner canonical thermal distribution for description of the statistical properties of the…
This paper studies the decay of a large, closed domain wall in a closed universe. Such walls can form in the presence of a broken, discrete symmetry. We study a novel process of quantum decay for such a wall, in which the vacuum fluctuates…
We describe how a model of effective interactions between quantum fluctuations under certain assumptions can be constructed in a way so that the large-scale limit gives an effective theory that matches general relativity in vacuum regions.…
Gauge effects on the fluctuation properties of the normal-to-superconducting phase transition in bulk and thin film superconductors are reviewed. Similar problems in the description of other natural systems (liquid crystals, quantum field…
The time evolution of a closed system of mean fields and fluctuations is Hamiltonian, with the canonical variables parameterizing the general time-dependent Gaussian density matrix of the system. Yet, the evolution manifests both quantum…
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…
We study domain-walls and bubble nucleation in a non-relativistic vector field theory with different longitudinal and transverse speeds of sound. We describe analytical and numerical methods to calculate the orientation dependent…
We review quantum tunneling provoked by external field driving, focusing on the role of geometric effects. The discussion begins with an overview of tunneling phenomena, including the Landau-Zener model and the Schwinger effect, both of…
There should be quantum vacuum fluctuations of spacetime itself, if we accept that the basic quantum principles we are already familiar with apply as well to a quantum theory of gravity. In this paper, we study, in linearized quantum…
Current fluctuations generated by tunnel junctions are known to be non-Gaussian. However, this property is lost when fluctuations are measured at high frequency and limited bandwidth. We show that the quadratures of the electric field…
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…
We study quantum tunneling of a composite object, which has a dipole or quadrupole moment coupled with quantized (photon or gravitational) radiation field, through a {\delta} potential barrier. The dipole or quadrupole moment is represented…
We use an one dimensional model of a square barrier embedded in an infinite potential well to demonstrate that tunneling leads to a complex behavior of the wave function and that the degree of complexity may be quantified by use of the…
Vacuum field fluctuations exert a radiation pressure which induces mechanical effects on scatterers. The question naturally arises whether the energy of vacuum fluctuations gives rise to inertia and gravitation in agreement with the general…
We investigate the production of axion quanta during the early universe evolution of an axion-like field rolling down a wiggly potential. We compute the growth of quantum fluctuations and their back-reaction on the homogeneous zero-mode. We…
Using the multi-dimensional wave function formalism, we investigate the quantum state of a scalar field inside a true vacuum bubble nucleated through false vacuum decay in flat spacetime. We developed a formalism which allows us a…
We revisit the formalism for tunneling in quantum field theory developed by Coleman and collaborators. In particular using the generalization of WKB methods for tunneling in quantum mechanics we avoid the problems with negative eigenvalues…
Phase transitions which occur at zero temperature when some non-thermal parameter like pressure, chemical composition or magnetic field is changed are called quantum phase transitions. They are caused by quantum fluctuations which are a…
The quantum fluctuations of the flux tube joining two static sources in the confining phase of a lattice gauge theory are described by an effective string theory. The predictions of the latter for ratios of Wilson loops of equal perimeter…