False vacuum decay: an introductory review
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
2022-08-30 v2 High Energy Physics - Theory
Abstract
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 the decay probability per unit time of a metastable ground state. We apply the relevant formalism to the case of the standard model of electroweak interactions, whose ground state is metastable for sufficiently large values of the top quark mass. Finally, we discuss the impact of gravitational interactions on the calculation of the tunnelling rate.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2205.03140,
title = {False vacuum decay: an introductory review},
author = {Federica Devoto and Simone Devoto and Luca Di Luzio and Giovanni Ridolfi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2205.03140},
year = {2022}
}
Comments
106 pages, 12 Figures. Invited review for Journal of Physics G. Minor corrections and references added. Matches published version