Testing Higher Derivative Gravity through Tunnelling

Abstract

Higher derivative terms in the gravitational action are natural from the perspective of quantum gravity, but are perceived as leading to a lack of well-posedness. The Gauss–Bonnet term has second-order equations of motion, but does not impact gravitational dynamics in 4D, so one might expect that it is not physically relevant. We discuss how signatures can show up in tunnelling processes and whether these will likely be physically accessible in Higgs vacuum decay.