| Flyover vacuum decay |
| Alexander Vilenkin, Tufts University |
| Event Type: Informal HEP Talk |
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| Time: 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM |
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| Location: 726 Broadway, 940, CCPP Seminar |
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| Abstract: I will discuss an alternative approach to false vacuum decay in flat spacetime and in the inflating universe. 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. In a variety of cases the rate of such flyover transitions has the same parametric form as that of tunneling transitions calculated using the instanton method. 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. |