The decay rate of a false vacuum is determined by the minimal action solution of the tunnelling field: bounce. In this Letter, we focus on models with scalar fields which have a canonical kinetic term in $N(>2)$ dimensional Euclidean space, and derive an absolute lower bound on the bounce action. In the case of four-dimensional space, we show the bounce action is generically larger than $24/λ_{\rm cr}$, where $λ_{\rm cr} \equiv {\rm max} [ -4V(ϕ) /|ϕ|^4] $ with the false vacuum being at $ϕ=0$ and $V(0)=0$. We derive this bound on the bounce action \textit{without solving the equation of motion explicitly}. Our bound is derived by a quite simple discussion, and it provides useful information even if it is difficult to obtain the explicit form of the bounce solution. Our bound offers a sufficient condition for the stability of a false vacuum, and it is useful as a quick check on the vacuum stability for given models. Our bound can be applied to a broad class of scalar potential with any number of scalar fields. We also discuss a necessary condition for the bounce action taking a value close to this lower bound.
The false vacua of some potentials do not decay via Euclidean bounces. This typically happens for tunneling actions with a flat direction (in field configuration space) that is lifted by a perturbation into a sloping valley, pushing the bounce off to infinity. Using three different approaches we find a consistent picture for such decays. In the Euclidean approach the bottom of the action valley consists of a family of pseudo-bounces (field configurations with some key good properties of bounces except extremizing the action). The pseudo-bounce result is validated by minimizing a WKB action in …
Some false vacua do not decay via bounces. This usually happens when a flat direction of the tunneling action due to scale invariance is lifted to a sloping valley by a scale breaking perturbation, pushing the bounce off to infinity. We compare two types of alternative decay configurations that have been proposed recently to describe decay in such cases: pseudo-bounces and new instantons. Although both field configurations are quite similar, we find that the pseudo-bounce action is lower than the new instanton one and describes more faithfully the bottom of the action valley. In addition, pseu…
We study the possibility of using machine learning for the calculation of the bounce action in quantum tunneling. Adopting supervised learning, we train neural network to give the bounce action from a given potential. It is found that, for one-dimensional tunneling, even a simple neural network performs at a percent level.
The quantum decay of a metastable vacuum is exponentially suppressed by a tunneling action that can be calculated in the semi-classical approximation as the Euclidean action of a bounce that interpolates between the false and true phases. For multi-field potentials, finding the bounce is non-trivial due to its peculiar boundary conditions and the fact that the action at the bounce is not a minimum but merely a saddle point. Recently, an alternative tunneling action has been proposed that does not rely on Euclidean bounces and reproduces the standard result at its minimum. Here we generalize th…
We show that in Euclidean field theories that have bounce solutions, the bounce with the least action is the global minimum of the action in an open space of field configurations. A rigorous upper bound on the minimal bounce action can therefore be obtained by finite numerical methods. This sets a lower bound on the tunneling rate which, fortunately, is often the more interesting and useful bound. We introduce a notion of reduction which allows this bound to be computed with less effort by reducing complicated field theories to simpler ones.
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 is a semi-analytical approach to solving the bounce equation by discretizing the potential into piecewise linear segments. This allows for a fast and robust evaluation of arbitrary potentials with specified precision and any number of scalar fields. Time cost grows linearly with the number of fields and/or the number of segments. Computation with 20 fields t…
Based on the gradient flow, we propose a new method to determine the bounce configuration for false vacuum decay. Our method is applicable to a large class of models with multiple fields. Since the bounce is a saddle point of an action, a naive gradient flow method which minimizes the action does not work. We point out that a simple modification of the flow equation can make the bounce its stable fixed point while the false vacuum configuration an unstable one. Consequently, the bounce configuration can be obtained simply by following the flow without a careful choice of an initial configurati…
In his 1977 paper on vacuum decay in field theory: The Fate of the False Vacuum, Coleman considered the problem of a single scalar field and assumed that the minimum action tunnelling field configuration, the bounce, is invariant under O(4) rotations in Euclidean space. A proof of the O(4) invariance of the bounce was provided later by Coleman, Glaser, and Martin (CGM), who extended the proof to $N>2$ Euclidean dimensions but, again, restricted non-trivially to a single scalar field. As far as we know a proof of O($N$) invariance of the bounce for the tunnelling problem with multiple scalar fi…
A No-Go Theorem for Nonspherical Bounces with a Single Negative Mode
Key Laboratory of Particle Physics and Particle Irradiation (MOE), Institute of Frontier and Interdisciplinary Science, Shandong University（粒子物理与粒子辐照教育部重点实验室，前沿交叉科学研究院，山东大学）；School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, Wenzhou University of Technology（数据科学与人工智能学院，温州理工学院）；School of Physics, Henan Normal University（物理学院，河南师范大学）
Symmetry of Bounce Solutions at Finite Temperature
Jožef Stefan Institute（约瑟夫·斯特凡研究所）；Centre For Cosmology and Science Popularization (CCSP), SGT University（宇宙学与科学普及中心（CCSP），SGT大学）；Cosmology, Gravity, and Astroparticle Physics Group, Center for Theoretical Physics of the Universe, Institute for Basic Science (IBS)（基础科学研究院（IBS）宇宙理论物理中心宇宙学、引力与高能天体物理组）；Department of Physics, Institute of Science Tokyo（东京科学大学物理系）；Department of Physics and IPAP, Yonsei University（延世大学物理系及物理学与应用物理学研究所）
We propose a new approach for computing tunneling rates in quantum or thermal field theory with multiple scalar fields. It is based on exact analytical solutions of piecewise linear potentials with many segments that describes any given potential to arbitrary precision. The method is first developed for the single field case in 3 and 4 space-time dimensions and demonstrated on examples of classical potentials as well as the calculation of quantum fluctuations. A systematic expansion of the potential beyond the linear order is considered, taking into account higher order corrections, which pave…
We study radiative corrections to the decay rate of false vacua, paying particular attention to the renormalization-scale dependence of the decay rate. The decay rate exponentially depends on the bounce action. The bounce action itself is renormalization scale dependent. To make the decay rate scale-independent, radiative corrections, which are due to the field fluctuations around the bounce, have to be included. We show quantitatively that the inclusion of the fluctuations suppresses the scale dependence, and hence is important for the precise calculation of the decay rate. We also apply our …
We consider vacuum tunneling of a new kind where the false vacua are not translationally invariant, but have topological defects that break some of their translational symmetries. In the particular case where the topological defects are cosmic strings, we show the existence of an O(2) \times O(2) symmetric bounce configuration that allows a semi-classical estimate of the rate of cosmic string induced tunneling. A method of reduction is then suggested for simplifying the computation of the bounce action. Some phenomenological applications are described.
We calculate the bubble nucleation rate in a fourth-order gravity theory whose action contains an $R^2$ term, under the thin-wall approximation, by two different methods. First the bounce solution is found for the Euclidean version of the original action. Next, we use a conformal transformation to transform the theory into general relativity with an additional scalar field and then proceed to find the bounce solution. The same results are obtained from both calculations.
Bouncing solutions are obtained from a generally covariant action characterized by a potential which is a nonlocal functional of the dilaton field at two separated space-time points. Gradient instabilities are shown to arise in this context but they are argued to be nongeneric. After performing a gauge-invariant and frame-invariant derivation of the evolution equations of the fluctuations, a heuristic criterion for the avoidance of pathological instabilities is proposed and corroborated by a number of explicit examples that turn out to be compatible with a quasi-flat spectrum of curvature inho…
A new formulation for obtaining the tunneling action for vacuum decay based on the so-called tunneling potential was developed recently. In the original derivation, the new action was obtained by requiring that its variation led to the correct equations of motion and the same value for the action as evaluated on the Euclidean bounce. We present an alternative derivation of the tunneling potential action via canonical transformations. We discuss both single-field and multi-field cases as well as the case with gravity. We also comment on the possible application of the new approach to the calcul…
We study the dynamical evolution of a phase interface or bubble in the context of a λϕ^4 + g ϕ^6 scalar quantum field theory. We use a self-consistent mean-field approximation derived from a 2PI effective action to construct an initial value problem for the expectation value of the quantum field and two-point function. We solve the equations of motion numerically in (1+1)-dimensions and compare the results to the purely classical evolution. We find that the quantum fluctuations dress the classical profile, affecting both the early time expansion of the bubble and the behavior upon collision wi…
Using the holographic correspondence as a tool, we study the dynamics of first-order phase transitions in strongly coupled gauge theories at finite temperature. Considering an evolution from the large to the small temperature phase, we compute the nucleation rate of bubbles of true vacuum in the metastable phase. For this purpose, we find the relevant configurations (bounces) interpolating between the vacua and we compute the related effective actions. We start by revisiting the compact Randall-Sundrum model at high temperature. Using holographic renormalization, we compute the kinetic term in…
An alternative approach to the calculation of tunneling actions, that control the exponential suppression of the decay of metastable phases, is presented. The new method circumvents the use of bounces in Euclidean space by introducing an auxiliary function, a tunneling potential $V_t$ that connects smoothly the metastable and stable phases of the field potential $V$. The tunneling action is obtained as the integral in field space of an action density that is a simple function of $V_t$ and $V$. This compact expression can be considered as a generalization of the thin-wall action to arbitrary po…
A tunneling bounce driving the decay of a metastable vacuum must respect an integral constraint dictated by simple scaling arguments that is very useful to determine key properties of the bounce. After illustrating how this works in a simple toy model, the Standard Model Higgs potential is considered, including quartic coupling running and gravitational corrections as sources of scale invariance breaking. This approach clarifies the existence of the bounce and leads to simple and accurate analytical results in an expansion in the breaking parameters. Using the so-called tunneling-potential app…
We discuss new bounce-like (but non-time-reversal-invariant-) solutions to Euclidean equations of motion, which we dub boomerons. In the Euclidean path integral approach to quantum theories, boomerons make an imaginary contribution to the vacuum energy. The fake vacuum instabilty can be removed by cancelling boomeron contributions against contributions from time reversed boomerons (anti-boomerons). The cancellation rests on a sign choice whose significance is not completely understood in the path integral method.
We present the OptiBounce algorithm, a new and fast method for finding the bounce action for cosmological phase transitions. This is done by direct solution of the "reduced" minimisation problem proposed by Coleman, Glaser, and Martin. By using a new formula for the action, our method avoids the rescaling step used in other algorithms based on this formulation. The bounce path is represented using a pseudo-spectral Gauss-Legendre collocation scheme leading to a non-linear optimisation problem over the collocation coefficients. Efficient solution of this problem is enabled by recent advances in…
A positive definite formulation of vacuum decay with reduced symmetry
Instituto de Física Teórica IFT-UAM/CSIC（理论物理研究所 IFT-UAM/CSIC）；Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Kobe University（神户大学理学研究科物理学系）；Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY（德国电子同步加速器 DESY）；Department of Physics, Osaka Metropolitan University（大阪公立大学物理学系）；Osaka Central Advanced Mathematical Institute (OCAMI), Osaka Metropolitan University（大阪公立大学大阪中央先进数学研究所 (OCAMI)）
The standard bounce formalism for calculating the decay rate of a metastable vacuum cannot be applied to theories in which the symmetry breaking is due to radiative corrections, because in such theories the tree-level action has no bounce solutions. In this paper I derive a modified formalism to deal with such cases. As in the usual case, the bubble nucleation rate may be written in the form $A e^{-B}$. To leading approximation, $B$ is the bounce action obtained by replacing the tree-level potential by the leading one-loop approximation to the effective potential, in agreement with the general…
We study analytically and numerically the decay of a metastable phase in (2+1)-dimensional classical scalar field theory coupled to a heat bath, which is equivalent to two-dimensional Euclidean quantum field theory at zero temperature. By a numerical simulation we obtain the nucleation barrier as a function of the parameters of the potential, and compare it to the theoretical prediction from the bounce (critical bubble) calculation. We find the nucleation barrier to be accurately predicted by theory using the bounce configuration obtained from the tree-level (``classical'') effective action. W…
We identify a new class of UV-complete instanton solutions that describe the false vacuum\- decay of a real scalar field in a particular curved spacetime background. To this end, we consider a simple scalar theory with a Coleman potential and calculate the Euclidean action $S_{\text{E}}$ by assuming an O(4)-symmetric curved spacetime. The function $a(r)$ dictating the geometry of spacetime may consistently be chosen to be a constant, thereby eliminating the drag forces from the equations of motion and ensuring that the gravitational backgrounds of both the false vacuum and bounce solutions are…
It is shown that tunneling rates can be defined in terms of a false-vacuum effective action whose reality and convexity properties differ from those of the corresponding groundstate functional. The tunneling rate is directly related to the false-vacuum effective action evaluated at an extremal "quantum bounce". The Nielsen identities of the false-vacuum functional ensure that the rate remains independent of the choice of gauge-fixing. Our results are nonperturbative and clarify issues related with convexity and radiative corrections.
In the standard procedure for calculating the decay rate of a metastable vacuum the solution of the classical Euclidean equation of motion of the background field is needed. On the other hand radiative corrections have to be taken into account already in the equation of motion. Hence, the latter one has to be the functional derivative of the effective action with respect to the background field. This is of crucial importance in theories in which the symmetry breaking is due to radiative corrections. Usually the effective potential is considered only, neglecting the corrections due to the deriv…
False vacuum states are metastable in quantum field theories, and true vacuum bubbles can be nucleated due to the quantum tunneling effect. It was recently suggested that an evaporating black hole (BH) can be a catalyst of bubble nucleations and dramatically shortens the lifetime of the false vacuum. In particular, in the context of the Standard Model valid up to a certain energy scale, even a single evaporating BH may spoil the successful cosmology by inducing the decay of our electroweak vacuum. In this paper, we reinterpret catalyzed vacuum decay by BHs, using an effective action for a thin…
Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics (APCTP)（亚太理论物理中心）；Ningbo University（宁波大学）；Institute of Fundamental Physics and Quantum Technology & School of Physical Science and Technology, Ningbo University（宁波大学基础物理与量子技术研究所及物理科学与技术学院）；School of Fundamental Physics and Mathematical Sciences, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study (HIAS), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS)（中国科学院大学杭州高等研究院基础物理与数学科学学院）；Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院理论物理研究所）
