Coleman-de Luccia Tunneling Wave Function

Abstract

We revisit the famous Coleman-de Luccia formalism for decay of false vacuum in gravitational theory. Since the corresponding wave function is time-independent we argue that its instanton's interpretation as the decay rate probability is problematic. We instead propose that such phenomenon can better be described by the Wheeler-de Witt's wave function. To do so, the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism is employed in the WKB approximation. The scalar and gravitational fields can then be treated as a two-dimensional effective metric. For a particular case of dS-to-dS tunneling, we calculated the wave function and found that it depends only on the potential of the false, and not on the true, vacuum; reminiscent of, though in totally different formalism with, the Hawking-Moss result. In general, this alternative approach might have significant impact on the study of very early universe and quantum cosmology.

arXiv comment5 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Lorentzian Quantum Cosmology
• Precision decay rate calculations in quantum field theory
• From path integrals to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation: Time evolution in spacetimes with a spatial boundary
• Tunneling decay rate in quantum cosmology

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Lorentzian Vacuum Transitions: Open or Closed Universes?
• WKB Approaches to Restore Time in Quantum Cosmology: Predictions and Shortcomings
• The evolution of the FRW universe with decaying metastable dark energy --- a dynamical system analysis
• Supersymmetric Horizons at the Edge of Effective Field Theory