We develop an analytical procedure to compute all relevant physical properties of scalar field oscillons in models with quartic polynomial potentials: energy, radius, frequency, core-amplitude, and lifetime. We compare our predictions to numerical simulations of models with symmetric and asymmetric double well potentials in three spatial dimensions, obtaining excellent agreement. We also explain why oscillons have not been seen to decay in two spatial dimensions.
We consider a classical toy model of a massive scalar field in 1+1 dimensions with a constant exponential expansion rate of space. The nonlinear theory under consideration supports approximate oscillon solutions, but they eventually decay due to their coupling to the expanding background. Although all the parameters of the theory and the oscillon energies are of order one in units of the scalar field mass $m$, the oscillon lifetime is exponentially large in these natural units. For typical values of the parameters, we see oscillon lifetimes scaling approximately as $τ\propto \exp(k E/m)/m$ whe…
Oscillons are spatially localised strong fluctuations of a scalar field. They can e.g. form after inflation when the scalar field potential is shallower than quadratic away from the minimum. Although oscillons are not protected by topology, they can be remarkably stable and have a significant impact on the (p)reheating phase. In this work we investigate the properties of oscillons in hilltop-shaped potentials, in particular the typical energies, shapes and lifetimes. In the first part of the paper, we simulate oscillon creation and stabilization with (3+1)-dimensional classical lattice simulat…
Oscillons are long-lived, spherically-symmetric, attractor scalar field configurations that emerge as certain field configurations evolve in time. It has been known for many years that there is a direct correlation between the initial configuration's shape and the resulting oscillon lifetime: a shape memory. In this paper we use an information entropic measure known as differential configurational entropy (DCE) to obtain estimates of oscillon lifetimes in scalar field theories with symmetric and asymmetric double-well potentials. The time-dependent DCE is built form the Fourier-transform of th…
Many scalar field theories with attractive self-interactions support exceptionally long-lived, spatially localized and time-periodic field configurations called oscillons. A detailed study of their longevity is important for understanding their applications in cosmology. In this paper, we study gravitational effects on the decay rate and lifetime of dense oscillons, where self-interactions are more or at least equally important compared with gravitational interactions. As examples, we consider the $α$-attractor T-model of inflation and the axion monodromy model, where the potentials become fla…
We investigate the longevity of oscillons numerically, paying particular attention to radially-symmetric oscillons that have been conjectured to have an infinitely-long lifetime. In two spatial dimensions, oscillons have not been seen to decay. In three spatial dimensions, specific initial Gaussian configurations seem to lead to oscillons with spikes in lifetime that have been conjectured to be infinite. We study such ``resonant'' oscillons in two and three spatial dimensions, applying two tests to study their longevity: parametric resonance and virialization. Without offering a formal proof, …
We use an information-theoretic measure of shape complexity known as configurational entropy (CE) to investigate numerically the remarkably long lifetimes of spherically-symmetric ``resonant oscillons'' in three-dimensional and of azimuthally-symmetric oscillons in two-dimensional relativistic scalar field theories, which have been conjectured to be infinite. In 3d, we obtain a power law relating a stability measure derived from CE to the oscillons' lifetimes that, upon extrapolation to large times, offers support to this conjecture. In 2d, we obtain a three-way relation between the oscillons'…
We consider the stability of oscillons in 2+1 space-time dimensions, in the presence of quantum fluctuations. Taking the oscillon to be the inhomogeneous mean field of a self-interacting quantum scalar field, we compare its classical evolution to the evolution in the presence of quantum fluctuations. The evolution of these and their back reaction onto the mean field is implemented through the inhomogeneous Hartree approximation, in turn computed as a statistical ensemble of field realizations. We find that although the lifetime of the oscillon is dramatically reduced compared to the classical …
Decay and lifetime of oscillons coupled to an external scalar field: Insights from instability band analysis
Institute of Science Tokyo（东京科学大学）；Center for Theoretical Physics of the Universe, Institute for Basic Science（基础科学研究院宇宙理论物理中心）；Yonsei University（延世大学）；Tongji University（同济大学）；Institute for Advanced Study of Tongji University（同济大学高等研究院）；Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, The University of Tokyo（东京大学前沿研究机构理化学宇宙物质研究所（WPI））；Yangzhou University（扬州大学）
Oscillons are localized states of scalar fields sustained by self interactions. They decay by emitting classical radiation, but their lifetimes are surprisingly large. We revisit the reasons behind their longevity, aiming at how the shape of the scalar potential $V(ϕ)$ determines the lifetime. The corpuscular picture, where the oscillon is identified with a bound state of a large number of field quanta, allows to understand lifetimes of order of $10^3$ cycles in generic potentials. At the non-perturbative level, two properties of the scalar potential can substantially boost the lifetime: the f…
Oscillons are extremely long-lived, spatially-localized field configurations in real-valued scalar field theories that slowly lose energy via radiation of scalar waves. Before their eventual demise, oscillons can pass through (one or more) exceptionally stable field configurations where their decay rate is highly suppressed. We provide an improved calculation of the non-trivial behavior of the decay rates, and lifetimes of oscillons. In particular, our calculation correctly captures the existence (or absence) of the exceptionally long-lived states for large amplitude oscillons in a broad class…
We present four results for oscillons in classical phi^4 theory in D+1 space-time dimensions, based on numerical simulations. These include the oscillon lifetime and the dependence on D; evidence for the uniqueness of the oscillon; evidence for the existence of oscillons beyond D=7; and a brief study of the spectrum of the radiation emitted from the oscillons before, during and after its ultimate demise.
Nonlinear field theories produce unstable but long-lived configurations known as oscillons. These structures have been studied with asymmetric and symmetric double-well potentials and extended to other forms of potentials. In the present work, we examine the consequences of considering higher-order field theories, where we have used a generalization of the symmetric double-well potential and a $ϕ^6$ potential. Consequently, we have found $3+1$ spherically symmetric oscillons with significantly large lifetimes without parameter fine-tuning.
We present a comprehensive, nonperturbative analytical method to investigate the dynamics of time-dependent oscillating scalar field configurations. The method is applied to oscillons in a double well Klein-Gordon model in two and three spatial dimensions, yielding high accuracy results in the characterization of all aspects of the complex oscillon dynamics. In particular, we show how oscillons can be interpreted as long-lived perturbations about an attractor in field configuration space. By investigating their radiation rate as they approach the attractor, we obtain an accurate estimate of th…
We study oscillons in D+1 space-time dimensions using a spherically symmetric ansatz. From Gaussian initial conditions, these evolve by emitting radiation, approaching ``quasi-breathers'', near-periodic solutions to the equations of motion. Using a truncated mode expansion, we numerically determine these quasi-breather solutions in 2<D<6 and the energy dependence on the oscillation frequency. In particular, this energy has a minimum, which in turn depends on the number of spatial dimensions. We study the time evolution and lifetimes of the resulting quasi-breathers, and show how generic oscill…
Oscillons are bound states sustained by self-interactions that appear in rather generic scalar models. They can be extremely long-lived and in the context of cosmology they have a built-in formation mechanism - parametric resonance instability. These features suggest that oscillons can affect the standard picture of scalar ultra-light dark matter (ULDM) models. We explore this idea along two directions. First, we investigate numerically oscillon lifetimes and their dependence on the shape of the potential. We find that scalar potentials that occur in well motivated axion-like models can lead t…
Standard Model Effective Field Theory and Oscillons
Institute of Theoretical Physics, Jagiellonian University（雅盖隆大学理论物理研究所）；Texas Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Weinberg Institute for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校物理系魏因伯格理论物理中心宇宙线与天体粒子物理中心）；Department of Physics, Harvard University（哈佛大学物理系）；International Institute for Sustainability with Knotted Chiral Meta Matter (WPI-SKCM 2 ), Hiroshima University（广岛大学缠结手性超材料可持续国际研究所）
The radiation loss of small-amplitude radially symmetric oscillons (long-living, spatially localized, time-dependent solutions) in two- and three-dimensional scalar field theories is computed analytically in the small-amplitude expansion. The amplitude of the radiation is beyond all orders in perturbation theory and it is determined using matched asymptotic series expansions and Borel summation. The general results are illustrated on the case of the two- and three-dimensional sine-Gordon theory and a two-dimensional $ϕ^6$ model. The analytic predictions are found to be in good agreement with t…
Analytical arguments suggest that a large class of scalar field potentials permit the existence of oscillons -- pseudo-stable, non-topological solitons -- in three spatial dimensions. In this paper we numerically explore oscillon solutions in three dimensions. We confirm the existence of these field configurations as solutions to the Klein-Gorden equation in an expanding background, and verify the predictions of Amin and Shirokoff for the characteristics of individual oscillons for their model. Further, we demonstrate that significant numbers of oscillons can be generated via fragmentation of …
Through a detailed numerical investigation in three spatial dimensions, we demonstrate that long-lived time-dependent field configurations emerge dynamically during symmetry breaking in an expanding de Sitter spacetime. We investigate two situations: a single scalar field with a double-well potential and the bosonic sector of an SU(2) non-Abelian Higgs model. For the single scalar, we show that large-amplitude oscillon configurations emerge spontaneously and persist to contribute about 1.2% of the energy density of the universe. We also show that for a range of parameters, oscillon lifetimes a…
