Lorentzian vacuum transitions with a generalized uncertainty principle

Abstract

The vacuum transition probabilities between to minima of a scalar field potential in the presence of gravity are studied using the Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin approximation. First we propose a method to compute these transition probabilities by solving the Wheeler–DeWitt equation in a semi-classical approach for any model of superspace that contains terms of squared as well as linear momenta in the Hamiltonian constraint generalizing in this way previous results. Then we apply this method to compute the transition probabilities for a Friedmann–Lemaitre–Robertson–Walker (FLRW) metric with positive and null curvature and for the Bianchi III metric when the coordinates of minisuperspace obey a Standard Uncertainty Principle and when a Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP) is taken into account. In all cases we compare the results and found that the effect of considering a GUP is that the probability is enhanced at first but it decays faster so when the corresponding scale factor is big enough the probability is reduced. We also consider the effect of anisotropy and compare the result of the Bianchi III metric with the flat FLRW metric which corresponds to its isotropy limit and comment the differences with previous works.