Flyover vacuum decay
Flyover vacuum decay
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飞越真空衰减
DOI：
10.1088/1475-7516/2019/12/001
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发表时间：
2019
影响因子：
6.4
通讯作者：
Vilenkin, Alexander
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Blanco-Pillado, Jose J.;Deng, Heling;Vilenkin, Alexander
我们使用分析估计和数值模拟来探索真空衰变的随机方法。根据这种方法，处于局部真空状态的标量场的时间导数会产生一个大的涨落，并且该场“飞越”到另一个真空的势垒。初始涨落的概率分布由量子力学确定，随后的非线性演化由经典动力学确定。我们发现，在各种情况下，这种立交桥跃迁的速率与使用瞬子方法计算的隧道跃迁的速率具有相同的参数形式，只是指数中的数值因子O(1)不同。一个重要的例外是从德西特真空“向上”跃迁到能量更高的德西特真空状态。在这种情况下，立交桥转换的速率是参数不同的，并且可以比隧道高许多数量级。这一结果与量子德西特空间作为热态的传统图像相冲突。我们的数值模拟表明，在立交桥过渡中的气泡成核动力学与标准图像有很大的不同。在平坦空间中的薄壁气泡中，这种差异尤其明显，在那里，过渡区域在真真空和假真空之间振荡，直到形成一个向内和向外膨胀的真真空壳，而在向上的德西特过渡中，膨胀的新真空区域被包含在黑洞内部。
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.