Consistency of Scalar Potentials from Quantum de Sitter Space

Abstract

Consistency of the unconventional view of de Sitter space as a quantum theory of gravity with a finite number of degrees of freedom requires that Coleman-De Luccia tunneling rates to vacua with negative cosmological constant should be interpreted as recurrences to low-entropy states. This demand translates into two constraints, or consistency conditions, on the scalar potential which are generically: 1) the distance in field space between the de Sitter vacuum and any other vacuum with negative cosmological constant must be of the order of the reduced Planck mass or larger and 2) the fourth root of the vacuum energy density of the de Sitter vacuum must be smaller than the fourth root of the typical scale of the scalar potential. These consistency conditions shed a different light on both outstanding hierarchy problems of the Standard Model of particle physics: the scale of electroweak symmetry breaking and the scale of the cosmological constant. Beyond the unconventional interpretation of quantum de Sitter space, we complete the analytic understanding of the thin-wall approximation of Coleman-De Luccia tunneling, extend its numerical analysis to generic potentials and discuss the role of gravity in stabilizing the Standard Model potential.

1+34 pages, 9 figures, v3 with more precise wording in abstract and introduction

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Cited by in corpus (12)

• On gravitational and thermal corrections to vacuum decay
• Stability of the electroweak ground state in the Standard Model and its extensions
• Impact of Gravity on Vacuum Stability
• A Fresh Look at the Calculation of Tunneling Actions including Gravitational Effects
• Protecting the Stability of the EW Vacuum from Planck-Scale Gravitational Effects
• Standard Model vacuum decay in a de Sitter Background
• Tunneling from a Minkowski vacuum to an AdS vacuum: A new thin-wall regime
• Revisiting Coleman-de Luccia transitions in the AdS regime using holography
• Vacuum Decay in the Standard Model: Analytical Results with Running and Gravity
• Vacuum Decay Actions from Tunneling Potentials for General Spacetime Dimension
• The Stabilizing Effect of Gravity Made Simple
• Numerical Analysis of Coleman-de Luccia Tunneling