Publication: Vacuum Decay Constraints on a Cosmological Scalar Field
Loading...
Open/View Files
Date
2002
Authors
Published Version
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Physical Society
The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you.
Citation
Heyl, Jeremy S., and Abraham Loeb. 2002. “Vacuum Decay Constraints on a Cosmological Scalar Field.” Physical Review Letters 88 (12). https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.88.121302.
Abstract
If the potential of a scalar filed phi which currently provides the dark energy of the Universe has a minimum at phi = -M-0(4) < 0, then quantum-mechanical fluctuations could nucleate a bubble of φ at a negative value of the potential. This bubble would then expand at the speed of light. Given that no such bubble enveloped us in the past, we find that any minimum in V(φ) must be separated from the current φ value by more than min{1.5M(&ODOT;), 0.21M(P1)} where M-P1 is the Planck mass. We also show that vacuum decay renders a cyclic or ekpyrotic universe with M-0(4) greater than or similar to 10(-10) M-P1(4) untenable.
Description
Other Available Sources
Research Data
Keywords
Terms of Use
This article is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material (LAA), as set forth at Terms of Service