False Vacuum Bubbles Research Articles

Probing primordial black holes from a first order phase transition through pulsar timing and gravitational wave signals

In this work, we assess the sensitivity reach of pulsar timing array (PTA) measurements to probe pointlike primordial black holes (PBHs), with an extended mass distribution, which originate from collapsed Fermi balls that are formed through the aggregation of asymmetric U(1) dark fermions trapped within false vacuum bubbles during a dark first order phase transition (FOPT). The PBH formation scenario is mainly characterized by the dark asymmetry, strength of the FOPT, rate of FOPT, and the percolation temperature. Meanwhile, for PBH masses of interest lying within 10−10M⊙ − 102M⊙, the relevant signal for PTA measurements is the Doppler phase shift in the timing signal, due to the velocity change induced by transiting PBHs on pulsars. Taking the dark asymmetry parameter to be 10−4 and 10−5, we find that percolation temperatures within the 0.1 − 10 keV range, FOPT rates above 103 times the Hubble parameter at percolation, and FOPT strengths within 10−6 − 0.1 can give rise to PBHs that can be probed by an SKA-like PTA observation. On the other hand, the accompanying gravitational wave (GW) signal from the FOPT can be used as a complementary probe, assuming that the peak frequency lies within the \U0001d4aa(10−10) − \U0001d4aa(10−7) Hz range, and the peak GW abundance is above the peak-integrated sensitivity curves associated with pulsar timing observations that search for stochastic GWs. At the fundamental level, a quartic effective potential for a dark scalar field can trigger the FOPT. By performing a parameter scan, we obtained the class of effective potentials that lead to FOPT scenarios that can be probed by SKA through pulsar timing and GW observations.

Collisions of False-Vacuum Bubble Walls in a Quantum Spin Chain

We study the real-time dynamics of a small bubble of "false vacuum" in a quantum spin chain near criticality, where the low-energy physics is described by a relativistic (1+1)-dimensional quantum field theory. Such a bubble can be thought of as a confined kink-antikink pair (a meson). We carefully construct bubbles so that particle production does not occur until the walls collide. To achieve this in the presence of strong correlations, we extend a Matrix Product State (MPS) ansatz for quasiparticle wavepackets [Van Damme et al., arXiv:1907.02474 (2019)] to the case of confined, topological quasiparticles. By choosing the wavepacket width and the bubble size appropriately, we avoid strong lattice effects and observe relativistic kink-antikink collisions. We use the MPS quasiparticle ansatz to detect scattering outcomes: In the Ising model, with transverse and longitudinal fields, we do not observe particle production despite nonintegrability (supporting recent observations of nonthermalizing mesonic states). With additional interactions, we see production of confined and unconfined particle pairs. Although we simulated these low-energy, few-particle events with moderate resources, we observe significant growth of entanglement with energy and with the number of collisions, suggesting that increasing either will ultimately exhaust our methods. Quantum devices, in contrast, are not limited by entanglement production, and promise to allow us to go far beyond classical methods. We anticipate that kink-antikink scattering in 1+1 dimensions will be an instructive benchmark problem for relatively near-term quantum devices.

How Do We Know if We Live in a Multivariate Universe?

This paper reviews two studies that deal with the simulation of false vacuum bubble collisions and decay, and proposes that searching for evidence of particle scattering outcomes that would result from false vacuum bubble collisions in the CMBR could support the inflationary multiverse hypothesis.

Primordial black holes from spectator field bubbles

We study the evolution of light spectator fields in an asymmetric polynomial potential. During inflation, stochastic fluctuations displace the spectator field from the global minimum of its potential, populating the false vacuum state and thereby allowing for the formation of false vacuum bubbles. By using a lattice simulation, we show that these bubbles begin to contract once they re-enter the horizon and, if sufficiently large, collapse into black holes. This process generally results in the formation of primordial black holes, which, due to the specific shape of their mass function, are constrained to yield at most 1% of the total dark matter abundance. However, the resulting population can source gravitational wave signals observable at the LIGO-Virgo experiments, provide seeds for supermassive black holes or cause a transient matter-dominated phase in the early Universe.

Exploring Primordial Black Holes from the Multiverse with Optical Telescopes.

Primordial black holes (PBHs) are a viable candidate for dark matter if the PBH masses are in the currently unconstrained "sublunar" mass range. We revisit the possibility that PBHs were produced by nucleation of false vacuum bubbles during inflation. We show that this scenario can produce a population of PBHs that simultaneously accounts for all dark matter, explains the candidate event in the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) data, and contains both heavy black holes as observed by LIGO and very heavy seeds of supermassive black holes. We demonstrate with numerical studies that future observations of HSC, as well as other optical surveys, such as LSST, will be able to provide a definitive test for this generic PBH formation mechanism if it is the dominant source of dark matter.

Uptunneling to de Sitter

We propose a Euclidean preparation of an asymptotically AdS2 spacetime that contains an inflating dS2 bubble. The setup can be embedded in a four dimensional theory with a Minkowski vacuum and a false vacuum. AdS2 approximates the near horizon geometry of a two-sided near-extremal Reissner-Nordström black hole, and the two sides can connect to the same Minkowski asymptotics to form a topologically nontrivial worm- hole geometry. Likewise, in the false vacuum the near-horizon geometry of near-extremal black holes is approximately dS2 times 2-sphere. We interpret the Euclidean solution as describing the decay of an excitation inside the wormhole to a false vacuum bubble. The result is an inflating region inside a non-traversable asymptotically Minkowski wormhole.

Vacuum decay in the presence of a cosmic string

We study the false vacuum decay and bubble nucleation in the presence of a cosmic string in dS spacetime. A cosmic string induces a deficit angle in spacetime around itself so the nucleated bubble has the shape of a rugby ball. Working in thin wall approximation and using the junction conditions we study the dynamics of the bubble wall and calculate the Euclidean action. An interesting feature in our analysis is that the tension of the string is screened by the bubble such that an observer inside the bubble measures a different value of the tension than an outside observer. We show that the string can act as a catalyzer in which the nucleation rate is enhanced compared to the Coleman-de Luccia instanton. However, in general, the nucleation rate is not a monotonic function of the difference between the two tensions so in some regions of the parameters space the nucleation rate may be smaller than the Coleman-de Luccia bubble.

Tunneling between Schwarzschild–de Sitter vacua

We extend the study of the effect of static primordial black holes on vacuum decay. In particular, we compare the tunneling rates between vacua of different values of the cosmological constant and black hole mass by pointing out the dominant processes based on a numerical examination of the thin wall instanton. Three distinct cases are considered, namely the nucleation of a true vacuum bubble into the false vacuum, the nucleation of a false vacuum bubble into the true vacuum as well as the Farhi-Guth-Guven mechanism. As a proof of concept, it is shown that in order to increase the transition rate into an inflating region, we find that not only is the inclusion of a black hole necessary, but the inclusion of a cosmological constant in the initial phase is also required. Among the cases studied, we show that the most likely scenario is the elimination of inhomogeneities in the final phase.

Formation of dark energy stars

Dark energy stars are finite size astrophysical objects with an interior equation of state typical of dark energy. Examples are self-gravitating false vacuum bubbles, vacuum non-singular black holes, and gravastars. We present a time-dependent solution of Einstein's field equations that describes the collapse of a spherical system from an initial state of positive pressure to a final state with a dark energy core. Our solution has no singularities, no event horizons, and does not violate the weak or null energy conditions.

Creation of an inflationary universe out of black hole space–time

We investigate the effect of a black hole as a nucleation site of a false vacuum bubble based on the Euclidean actions of relevant configurations. As a result we find a wormhole-like configuration may be spontaneously nucleated once the black hole mass falls below a critical value of order of the Hubble parameter corresponding to the false vacuum energy density. As the space beyond the wormhole throat can expand exponentially, this may be interpreted as creation of another inflationary universe in the final stage of the black hole evaporation.

Creation of an inflationary universe out of a black hole

We discuss a two-step mechanism to create a new inflationary domain beyond a wormhole throat which is created by a phase transition around an evaporating black hole. The first step is creation of a false vacuum bubble with a thin-wall boundary by the thermal effects of Hawking radiation. Then this wall induces a quantum tunneling to create a wormhole-like configuration. As the space beyond the wormhole throat can expand exponentially, being filled with false vacuum energy, this may be interpreted as creation of another inflationary universe in the final stage of the black hole evaporation.

The nucleation of false vacuum bubbles with compact geometries

We investigate and classify the possible types of false vacuum bubbles in Einstein gravity. The false vacuum bubbles can occur only if gravity is taken into account. We show that there exist solutions only with compact geometries. The analytic computations for the radius and nucleation rate of a vacuum bubble are evaluated using the thin-wall approximation. We discuss possible cosmological implications of our new solutions.

Initial conditions from the action principle: Application to cosmology and to false vacuum bubbles

We study models in which parameters such as the gauge coupling constant and mass are functions of some conserved charge in the universe. We first consider the standard Dirac action but in which the mass and electromagnetic coupling constant are a function of the charge in the universe, and then extend this to scalar fields. For a Dirac field in the flat space formulation, the formalism is not manifestly Lorentz-invariant. However, Lorentz invariance can be restored by performing a phase transformation of the Dirac field. For a scalar field, we identify a new feature whereby the initial conditions for the field are derived from the action. For a Higgs field, the initial conditions require that the universe is in a false vacuum state at a certain time slice, which is quite important for inflation scenarios. We also study false vacuum branes using a similar approach. We discuss the use of spoiling terms that violate gauge invariance to introduce this initial condition.

Creating universes with thick walls

We study the dynamics of a spherically symmetric false vacuum bubble embedded in a true vacuum region separated by a ``thick wall'', which is generated by a scalar field in a quartic potential. We study the ``Farhi-Guth-Guven'' (FGG) quantum tunneling process by constructing numerical solutions relevant to this process. The Arnowitt-Deser-Misner mass of the spacetime is calculated, and we show that there is a lower bound that is a significant fraction of the scalar field mass. We argue that the zero mass solutions used to by some to argue against the physicality of the FGG process are artifacts of the thin wall approximation used in earlier work. We argue that the zero mass solutions should not be used to question the viability of the FGG process.

VACUUM BUBBLES AND GRAVITY EFFECTS

The vacuum bubbles in the curved spacetime are analyzed. We classify the true and false vacuum bubbles with the cosmological constants from the minimum of the potential being either positive, zero, or negative. We introduce new type of solutions with Z2 symmetry when the potential has degenerate vacua, i.e., instanton solutions. This new type of solutions are possible only if gravity is taken into account.

NUCLEATION OF VACUUM BUBBLES OF A SELF-GRAVITATING SCALAR FIELD

The case of a self-gravitating scalar field under-going the first-order phase transition is studied. Particularly the effects of self gravity on the nucleation of vacuum bubbles is investigated. We also investigate what modifications are induced by the introduction of nonminimal coupling of the scalar field. The possibility of nucleation of false vacuum bubbles within the true vacuum background in the case of a nonminimally coupled scalar field is discussed.

Nucleation of vacuum bubbles in Brans-Dicke type theory

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.

Generation of a bubble universe using a negative energy bath

This paper suggests a model for a bubble universe using buildable false vacuum bubbles. We study the causal structures of collapsing false vacuum bubbles using double-null simulations. False vacuum bubbles violate the null energy condition and emit negative energy along the outgoing direction through semi-classical effects. If there are a few collapsing false vacuum bubbles and they emit negative energy to a certain region, then the region can be approximated by a negative energy bath, which means that the region is homogeneously filled by negative energy. If a false vacuum bubble is generated in the negative energy bath and the tension of the bubble effectively becomes negative in the bath, then the bubble can expand and form an inflating bubble universe. This scenario uses a set of assumptions different from those in previous studies because it does not require tunneling to unbuildable bubbles.

Collapse of vacuum bubbles in a vacuum

Motivated by the discovery of a plenitude of metastable vacua in a string landscape and the possibility of rapid tunneling between these vacua, we revisit the dynamics of a false vacuum bubble in a background de Sitter spacetime. We find that there exists a large parameter space that allows the bubble to collapse into a black hole or to form a wormhole. This may have interesting implications to inflationary physics.

Dynamics of false vacuum bubbles in Brans-Dicke theory

We study the dynamics of false vacuum bubbles in the Brans-Dicke theory of gravity by using the thin shell or thin wall approximation.We consider a false vacuum bubble that has a different value for the Brans-Dicke field between the inside false vacuum region and the outside true vacuum region.Within a certain limit of field values, the difference of field values makes the effective tension of the shell negative.This allows new expanding false vacuum bubbles to be seen by the outside observer, which are disallowed in Einstein gravity.