Bubbling the false vacuum away

M. Gleiser, B. Rogers, and J. Thorarinson
Phys. Rev. D 77, 023513 – Published 16 January 2008

Abstract

We investigate the role of nonperturbative, bubblelike inhomogeneities on the decay rate of false-vacuum states in two- and three-dimensional scalar field theories. The inhomogeneities are induced by setting up large-amplitude oscillations of the field about the false vacuum, as, for example, after a rapid quench or in certain models of cosmological inflation. We show that, for a wide range of parameters, the presence of large-amplitude bubblelike inhomogeneities greatly accelerates the decay rate, changing it from the well-known exponential suppression of homogeneous nucleation to a power-law suppression. It is argued that this fast, power-law vacuum decay—known as resonant nucleation—is promoted by the presence of long-lived oscillons among the nonperturbative fluctuations about the false vacuum. A phase diagram is obtained distinguishing three possible mechanisms for vacuum decay: homogeneous nucleation, resonant nucleation, and crossover. Possible applications are briefly discussed.

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  • Received 28 August 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.77.023513

©2008 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

M. Gleiser*, B. Rogers, and J. Thorarinson

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA

  • *gleiser@dartmouth.edu
  • rogers@endurance.dartmouth.edu
  • thorvaldur@dartmouth.edu

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Issue

Vol. 77, Iss. 2 — 15 January 2008

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