Physics – High Energy Physics – High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Scientific paper
2001-06-08
Phys.Rev.D64:105008,2001
Physics
High Energy Physics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
27 pages, RevTeX, 1 figure (uses epsf.sty)
Scientific paper
10.1103/PhysRevD.64.105008
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.
Calzetta Esteban
Roura Albert
Verdaguer Enric
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