The problem of the vacuum energy decay is studied through the analysis of the vacuum survival amplitude ${\mathcal A}(z, z')$. Transition amplitudes are computed for finite time-span, $Z\equiv z^\prime-z$, and their {\em late time} behavior is discussed up to first order in the coupling constant, $ł$.
We investigate catalysis induced by a dyonic impurity in the metastable vacuum studied by Kachru, Pearson and Verlinde, which can be relevant to vacuum decay in the KKLT scenario. The impurity is a D3-brane wrapping on $ \mathbb{S}^3$ in the Klebanov-Strassler geometry. The effect of the D3-brane can be encoded in the world-volume theory of an NS5-brane as an electromagnetic field on it. As the field strength becomes large, instability of the vacuum enhances. As a result, the lifetime of the metastable vacuum becomes drastically shorter.
In this work we consider kink-antikink and antikink-kink collisions in a modified $ϕ^4$ model with a false vacuum characterized by a dimensionless parameter $ε$. The usual $ϕ^4$ model is recovered for $ε=0$. We investigate the $ε<<1$ regime where the kink in the presence of false vacuum can be understood as a small deformation of the standard kink for the $ϕ^4$ model. We show that the attractive interaction between the kink-antikink pair leads to a rich scattering pattern, in some cases delaying considerably the false vacuum decay.
The 'thin-wall approximation' gives a simple estimate of the decay rate of an unstable quantum field. Unfortunately, the approximation is uncontrolled. In this paper I show that there are actually two different thin-wall approximations and that they bracket the true decay rate: I prove that one is an upper bound and the other a lower bound. In the thin-wall limit, the two approximations converge. In the presence of gravity, a generalization of this lemma provides a simple sufficient condition for non-perturbative vacuum instability.
False vacuum decay around black holes: calculation from first principles in the (3+1)-dimensional case
Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences(俄罗斯科学院核物理研究所);Physics Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University(莫斯科国立大学物理系);Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology(莫斯科物理技术学院);Institute for Theoretical and Mathematical Physics, MSU(莫斯科国立大学理论与数学物理研究所)
We provide a novel, concise and self-contained evaluation of true- and false vacuum decay rates in general relativity. We insist on general covariance and choose observable boundary conditions, which yields the well known false-vacuum decay rate and a new true-vacuum decay rate that differs significantly from prior work. The rates of true- and false vacuum decays are identical in general relativity. The second variation of the action has a negative mode for all parameters. Our findings imply a new perspective on cosmological initial conditions and the ultimate fate of our universe.
We study a false vacuum decay in a two-dimensional black hole spacetime background. The decay rate in the case that nucleation site locates at a black hole center has been calculated in the literature. We develop a method for calculating the decay rate of the false vacuum for a generic nucleation site. We find that the decay rate becomes larger when the nucleation site is close to the black hole horizon and coincides with that in Minkowski spacetime when the nucleation site goes to infinity.
We investigate a vacuum decay around a spinning seed black hole by using the Israel junction condition and conclude that the spin of black hole would suppress a vacuum decay rate compared to that for a non-spinning case, provided that the surface of vacuum bubble has its ellipsoidal shape characterized by the Kerr geometry. We also find out that in the existence of a near-extremal black hole, a false vacuum state can be more stabilized than the case of the Coleman-de Luccia solution. A few necessary assumptions to carry the calculations are discussed.
We analyse vacuum decay in rotating BTZ black hole spacetimes with the thin wall approximation. Possible parameter regions for the vacuum decay are clarified. We find that the nucleation rate is dominated by the bounce solution with the static shell configuration. The nucleation rate of the static shell decreases with the mass of the initial black hole. For a larger/smaller value of the initial black hole, the nucleation rate can be smaller/larger than that of the Coleman De Luccia vacuum decay in the pure AdS spacetime. Through the vacuum decay, the black hole gains its mass and loses the hor…
We argue that the rate of Standard Model vacuum or thermal decay seeded by primordial black holes is negligible (because non-perturbatively suppressed by the small quartic Higgs coupling) and independent of the non-minimal coupling of the Higgs to gravity.
The tunneling potential method to calculate the action for vacuum decay is an alternative to the Euclidean bounce method that has a number of attractive features. In this paper we extend the formalism to general spacetime dimension $d>2$ and use it to give simple proofs of several results. For Minkowski or Anti de Sitter false vacua, we show that gravity or higher barriers increase vacuum lifetime and describe a very clean picture of gravitational quenching of vacuum decay. We also derive the thin-wall limit of the action, show how detailed balance for dS to dS transitions works in the new for…
We introduce a new picture of vacuum decay which, in contrast to existing semiclassical techniques, provides a real-time description and does not rely on classically-forbidden tunneling paths. Using lattice simulations, we observe vacuum decay via bubble formation by generating realizations of vacuum fluctuations and evolving with the classical equations of motion. The decay rate obtained from an ensemble of simulations is in excellent agreement with existing techniques. Future applications include bubble correlation functions, fast decay rates, and decay of non-vacuum states.
We study the decay rate of a false vacuum in gauge theory at the one-loop level. We pay particular attention to the case where the bounce consists of an arbitrary number of scalar fields. With a multi-field bounce, which has a curved trajectory in the field space, the mixing among the gauge fields and the scalar fields evolves along the path of the bounce in the field space and the one-loop calculation of the vacuum decay rate becomes complicated. We consider the one-loop contribution to the decay rate with an arbitrary choice of the gauge parameter, and obtain a gauge invariant expression of …
We propose to test the concept of seeded vacuum decay in cosmology using an analogue gravity Bose-Einstein condensate system. The role of the nucleation seed is played by a vortex within the condensate. We present two complementary theoretical analyses that demonstrate seeded decay is the dominant decay mechanism of the false vacuum. First, we adapt the standard instanton methods to the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Second, we use the truncated Wigner method to study vacuum decay.
We propose an ultracold atom analogue of early universe vacuum decay using all three states of a spin-1 Bose gas. We consider a one-dimensional system with both radio frequency and optical Raman coupling between internal states. An advantage of our proposal is the lack of a time-modulated coupling, which can lead to instabilities. Within the elaborate phase structure of the system we identify an effective Klein-Gordon field and use Gross-Pitaevskii simulations within the truncated Wigner approximation to model the decay of its false vacuum. We examine the dependence of the rate of vacuum decay…
We analyze the instability of the non-rotating fermion vacuum in Kerr spacetimes. We describe how the co-rotating Fermi sea is formed as a result of a spontaneous vacuum decay. Most significantly, and drawing upon intuition gained from analogous electrodynamic processes in supercritical fields, we show that this decay process is encoded entirely in a subset of quasi-normal fermion modes.
We consider the Skyrme model modified by the addition of mass terms which explicitly break chiral symmetry and pick out a specific point on the model's target space as the unique true vacuum. However, they also allow the possibility of false vacua, local minima of the potential energy. These false vacuum configurations admit metastable skyrmions, which we call false skyrmions. False skyrmions can decay due to quantum tunnelling, consequently causing the decay of the false vacuum. We compute the rate of decay of the false vacuum due to the existence of false skyrmions.
Using a new approach to the analysis of false vacuum decay based on the so-called tunneling potential, we develop a general method to find scalar potentials with a false vacuum with exactly solvable decay at the semi-classical level, including gravitational corrections. We examine in particular the decays of de Sitter vacua providing concrete examples that allow to explore analytically the transition between the Coleman-De Luccia and Hawking-Moss regimes.
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 mode function and hence calculate particle production properly. In particular, we use real time formalisms for vacuum decay in Minkowski and de Sitter spacetime together with the Stokes phenomenon method. For each case, we consider the flyover vacuum decay model and stochastic inflation, respectively. Within the real time formalism, the particle production can…
We study the decay of the false vacuum in the scaling Ising and tricritical Ising field theories using the Truncated Conformal Space Approach and compare the numerical results to theoretical predictions in the thin wall limit. In the Ising case, the results are consistent with previous studies on the quantum spin chain and the $φ^4$ quantum field theory; in particular we confirm that while the theoretical predictions get the dependence of the bubble nucleation rate on the latent heat right, they are off by a model dependent overall coefficient. The tricritical Ising model allows us on the othe…
Recently it was discovered that the Standard Model vacuum may suffer an essential metastability near the Planck scale. In this regard it makes sense to study in more detail the decay processes of the metastable vacuum and to develop methods for their more accurate analysis. In this article we develop a technique to calculate two loop radiative corrections to false vacuum decay rate in thin-wall approximation and apply it to false vacuum decay in scalar quantum field theory with cubic and quartic interactions. The results obtained use dimensional regularization and given in two different renorm…
Radiative corrections to false vacuum decay in quantum mechanics
本文在量子力学的框架内,考虑了形式为1/2 M q ^2(q-A)(q-B)的广义势对假真空衰变的辐射修正,其中M、A和B是任意参数。对于这类势,我们给出了相应反弹解背景下格林函数的解析结果以及假真空衰减率的单圈表达式。接下来,我们讨论了假真空衰减率的高阶修正的计算,并提供了两个和三个回路贡献的数值表达式。