Tufts/CfA/MIT Cosmology Seminar, at Tufts:

Tuesday, November 20, 2007
2:30 pm
Robinson Hall, Room 250
Refreshments at 2:00 in Knipp Library, Room 251

"Thermal Derivation of the Coleman-De Luccia Tunneling Prescription"


Erick Weinberg
Columbia University

Abstract:

I will derive the rate for transitions between de Sitter vacua by treating the field theory on the static patch as a thermal system. This reproduces the Coleman-De Luccia formalism for calculating the rate, but leads to a modified interpretation of the bounce solution and a different prediction for the evolution of the system after tunneling. In this interpretation, the bounce makes no statement about the fields beyond the horizon. This approach resolves several puzzling aspects and interpretational issues concerning the Coleman-De Luccia and Hawking-Moss bounces.

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