The universe on a table top: engineering quantum decay of a relativistic scalar field from a metastable vacuum
The universe on a table top: engineering quantum decay of a relativistic scalar field from a metastable vacuum
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桌面上的宇宙:亚稳态真空中相对论标量场的量子衰变
DOI:
10.1088/1361-6455/50/2/024003
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发表时间:
2016
期刊:
影响因子:
--
通讯作者:
J. Brand
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
O. Fialko;B. Opanchuk;A. Sidorov;P. Drummond;J. Brand
The quantum decay of a relativistic scalar field from a metastable state (‘false vacuum decay’) is a fundamental idea in quantum field theory and cosmology. This occurs via local formation of bubbles of true vacuum with their subsequent rapid expansion. It can be considered as a relativistic analog of a first-order phase transition in condensed matter. Here we expand upon our recent proposal (Fialko O et al 2015 Europhys. Lett. 110 56001) for an experimental test of false vacuum decay using an ultra-cold spinor Bose gas. A false vacuum for the relative phase of two spin components, serving as the unstable scalar field, is generated by means of a modulated linear coupling of the spin components. We analyze the system theoretically using the functional integral approach and show that various microscopic degrees of freedom in the system, albeit leading to dissipation in the relative phase sector, will not hamper the observation of the false vacuum decay in the laboratory. This is well supported by numerical simulations demonstrating the spontaneous formation of true vacuum bubbles on millisecond time-scales in two-component 7Li or 41K bosonic condensates in one-dimensional traps of ∼ 100 μ m size.
影响因子:
8.6
作者:
Clemens Neuenhahn;Anatoli Polkovnikov;Florian Marquardt
通讯作者:
Florian Marquardt