The self-consistent bounce: an improved nucleation rate

Abstract

We generalize the standard computation of homogeneous nucleation theory at zero temperature to a scenario in which the bubble shape is determined self-consistently with its quantum fluctuations. Studying two scalar models in 1+1 dimensions, we find the self-consistent bounce by employing a two-particle irreducible (2PI) effective action in imaginary time at the level of the Hartree approximation. We thus obtain an effective single bounce action which determines the rate exponent. We use collective coordinates to account for the translational invariance and the growth instability of the bubble and finally present a new nucleation rate prefactor. We compare the results with those obtained using the standard 1-loop approximation and show that the self-consistent rate can differ by several orders of magnitude.

arXiv comment28 pages, revtex, 7 eps figures

References in corpus (18)

• Nonequilibrium Dynamics of Symmetry Breaking in Lambda Phi^4 Field Theory
• Self-consistent Improvement of the Finite Temperature Effective Potential
• The weak electroweak phase transition
• Vacuum Decay in Theories with Symmetry Breaking by Radiative Corrections
• Dissipation and Decoherence in Mean Field Theory
• One-Loop Corrections to Bubble Nucleation Rate at Finite Temperature
• No saturation of the quantum Bogomolnyi bound by two-dimensional supersymmetric solitons
• Unambiguous one-loop quantum energies of 1+1 dimensional bosonic field configurations
• Non-perturbative computation of the bubble nucleation rate in the cubic anisotropy model
• Metastability in Two Dimensions and the Effective Potential
• Evolution of Inhomogeneous Condensates: Self-consistent Variational Approach
• Tunneling in quantum field theory with spontaneous symmetry breaking
• Vacuum decay and internal symmetries
• Bubble-nucleation rates for radiatively induced first-order phase transitions
• Self-consistent treatment of bubble nucleation at the electroweak phase transition
• Testing nucleation theory in two dimensions
• Real Time Analysis of Thermal Activation via Sphaleron Transitions
• A Step Beyond the Bounce: Bubble Dynamics in Quantum Phase Transitions

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Self-consistent solitons for vacuum decay in radiatively generated potentials
• Green's function method for handling radiative effects on false vacuum decay
• Resonant Nucleation
• Bubbling the False Vacuum Away
• Real-time dynamics of false vacuum decay
• From QFT to Boltzmann: Freeze-in in the presence of oscillating condensates
• False vacuum decay rates, more precisely
• Self-consistent bounces in two dimensions
• False vacuum decay by self-consistent bounces in four dimensions
• Self-consistent radiative corrections to false vacuum decay
• False vacuum decay beyond the quadratic approximation: summation of non-local self-energies
• Tunneling in a quantum field theory on a compact one-dimensional space