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Title: Decay of the cosmological constant: Equivalence of quantum tunneling and thermal activation in two spacetime dimensions

Journal Article · · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields
; ;  [1]
  1. Centro de Estudios Cientificos (CECS), Valdivia (Chile)

We study the decay of the cosmological constant in two spacetime dimensions through production of pairs. We show that the same nucleation process looks as quantum-mechanical tunneling (instanton) to one Killing observer and as thermal activation (thermalon) to another. Thus, we find another striking example of the deep interplay between gravity, thermodynamics and quantum mechanics which becomes apparent in presence of horizons.

OSTI ID:
20706176
Journal Information:
Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 71, Issue 6; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.71.063509; (c) 2005 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2821
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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