Abstract

We study the decay rate of a false vacuum in gauge theory at the one-loop level. We pay particular attention to the case where the bounce consists of an arbitrary number of scalar fields. With a multi-field bounce, which has a curved trajectory in the field space, the mixing among the gauge fields and the scalar fields evolves along the path of the bounce in the field space and the one-loop calculation of the vacuum decay rate becomes complicated. We consider the one-loop contribution to the decay rate with an arbitrary choice of the gauge parameter, and obtain a gauge invariant expression of the vacuum decay rate. We also give proper treatments of gauge zero modes and renormalization.

Highlights

  • The decay of a false vacuum has attracted theoretical and phenomenological interests in particle physics and cosmology

  • We study the decay rate of a false vacuum in gauge theory at the one-loop level

  • As we have mentioned in the previous section, if a gauge symmetry, which is broken by the bounce, is restored at the false vacuum, there show up zero modes in = 0 fluctuation operators

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Summary

Introduction

The decay of a false vacuum has attracted theoretical and phenomenological interests in particle physics and cosmology. An explicit check of the gauge invariance at the one-loop level is quite formidable and the first calculation appeared only recently in [33, 34] In these papers, a manifestly gauge-invariant expression of the decay rate has been obtained for the case where the bounce consists of a single field (single-field bounce). A manifestly gauge-invariant expression of the decay rate has been obtained for the case where the bounce consists of a single field (single-field bounce) They address another issue that arises when a gauge symmetry preserved in the false vacuum is broken by the bounce configuration.

Lagrangian and bounce
Background gauge
Fluctuation operators
FP ghosts
Gauge bosons and scalars
Prefactor and functional determinant The prefactor A is expressed as
Decomposition of solutions
Functional determinants
Zero modes
General issues
Gauge zero modes
Translational zero modes
Semi-analytic expression of the decay rate
Contributions of FP ghosts and transverse modes
Renormalization
Conclusions and discussion
Alternative fluctuation operators
Behavior at infinity

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