Vacuum decay in quantum field theory

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 behaviour 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 $M^{-1}$. This effect makes a substantial contribution to the total decay rate.

27 pages, RevTeX, 1 figure (uses epsf.sty)

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• Real time approach to tunneling in open quantum systems: decoherence and anomalous diffusion
• Observing the fate of the false vacuum with a quantum laboratory
• Variational Worldline Approximation for the Relativistic Two-Body Bound State in a Scalar Model
• Vacuum Decay Induced by Quantum Fluctuations
• Particle production induced by vacuum decay in real time dynamics
• Activation-like processes at zero temperature
• Particle production by the thick-walled bubble
• Quantum Brownian representation for the quantum field modes
• Quantum Fluctuations of Fields and Stress Tensors