Year: 2001
Type: article
Abstract: We study the contribution to vacuum decay in field theory due to the interaction between the long- and short-wavelength modes of the field. The field model considered consists of a scalar field of mass M with a cubic term in the potential. The dynamics of the long-wavelength modes becomes diffusive in this interaction. The diffusive behavior is described by the reduced Wigner function that characterizes the state of the long-wavelength modes. This function is obtained from the whole Wigner function by integration of the degrees of freedom of the short-wavelength modes. The dynamical equation for the reduced Wigner function becomes a kind of Fokker-Planck equation which is solved with suitable boundary conditions enforcing an initial metastable vacuum state trapped in the potential well. As a result a finite activation rate is found, even at zero temperature, for the formation of true vacuum bubbles of size ${M}^{\ensuremath{-}1}.$ This effect makes a substantial contribution to the total decay rate.
Institution: Universidad de Buenos Aires
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: G1587074451, G2439265903, G7378882120
OpenAlex ID: W1973797356