Hawking-Moss Bounces and Vacuum Decay Rates

Journal Article · Fri Jun 22 00:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.98.251303· OSTI ID:20953298

Weinberg, Erick J ^[1]

---

1. Physics Department, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027 (United States)

The conventional interpretation of the Hawking-Moss (HM) solution implies a transition rate between vacua that depends only on the values of the potential in the initial vacuum and at the top of a potential barrier, leading to the implausible conclusion that transitions to distant vacua can be as likely as those to a nearby one. I analyze this issue using a nongravitational example with analogous properties. I show that such HM bounces do not give reliable rate calculations, but are instead related to the probability of finding a quasistable configuration at a local potential maximum.

• OSTI ID: 20953298
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 25; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.251303; (c) 2007 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
DECAY
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
POTENTIALS
PROBABILITY