Nucleation of vacuum bubbles in Brans-Dicke type theory

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the nucleation of vacuum bubbles in the Brans-Dicke type theory of gravity. In the Euclidean signature, we evaluate the fields at the vacuum bubbles as solutions of the Euler-Lagrange equations of motion as well as the bubble nucleation probabilities by integrating the Euclidean action. We illustrate three possible ways to obtain vacuum bubbles: true vacuum bubbles for \omega>-3/2, false vacuum bubbles for \omega<-3/2, and false vacuum bubbles for \omega>-3/2 when the vacuum energy of the false vacuum in the potential of the Einstein frame is less than that of the true vacuum. After the bubble is nucleated at the t=0 surface, we can smoothly interpolate the field combinations to some solutions in the Lorentzian signature and consistently continue their subsequent evolutions. Therefore, we conclude that, in general scalar-tensor theories like this Brans-Dicke type theories, which may include and represent certain features of string theory, vacuum bubbles come in false vacuum bubbles as well as in true vacuum bubbles, as long as a special condition is assumed on the potential.