Higgs instantons in the Standard Model

粒子物理学的标准模型预测，对于粒子质量的最佳估计，当前的真空状态处于亚稳态，最终它将衰变为真正的负能量基态。这个过程用半经典的实例解来描述。这个项目的目的是在存在宇宙常数和非最小引力耦合的情况下找到这些瞬子，并研究引力和量子修正的影响。这将使我们更好地理解这个过程的速率，以及它是如何依赖于理论参数的，这样就有可能约束它们。

The Standard Model of particle physics predicts that, for the best estimates for the particle masses, the current vacuum state in metastable, and that eventually it will decay into to true negative-energy ground state. This process is described by semiclassical instanton solutions. The aim of this project is to find these instantons in the presence of a cosmological constant and a non-minimal coupling to gravity, and investigate the effects of gravity and quantum corrections. This will give a better understanding of the rate of this process and how it depends on the parameters of the theory, and that way it makes it possible to constrain them.