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Flyover vacuum decay

delete2019-12-02
delete19
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OA
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J
José J. Blanco-Pillado *
H
Heling Deng
V
Vilenkin, Alexander
DOI:10.1088/1475-7516/2019/12/001delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
We use analytic estimates and numerical simulations to explore the stochastic approach to vacuum decay. According to this approach, the time derivative of a scalar field, which is in a local vacuum state, develops a large fluctuation and the field flies over a potential barrier to another vacuum. The probability distribution for the initial fluctuation is found quantum mechanically, while the subsequent nonlinear evolution is determined by classical dynamics. We find in a variety of cases that the rate of such flyover transitions has the same parametric form as that of tunneling transitions calculated using the instanton method, differing only by a numerical factor O(1) in the exponent. An important exception is an upward transition from a de Sitter vacuum to a higher-energy de Sitter vacuum state. The rate of flyover transitions in this case is parametrically different and can be many orders of magnitude higher than tunneling. This result is in conflict with the conventional picture of quantum de Sitter space as a thermal state. Our numerical simulations indicate that the dynamics of bubble nucleation in flyover transitions is rather different from the standard picture. The difference is especially strong for thin-wall bubbles in flat space, where the transition region oscillates between true and false vacuum until a true vacuum shell is formed which expands both inwards and outwards, and for upward de Sitter transitions, where the inflating new vacuum region is contained inside of a black hole.
Keywords:
gravity
initial conditions and eternal universe
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Journal

Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics cover
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
IF:
5.9
Papers:
1.3W
Citations:
4.7W

Organization

T
tufts university
Scholars:
1.7W
Papers: 1.5W
Citations: 24
U
university of basque country
Scholars:
1.9W
Papers: 1.6W
Citations: 17