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arXiv · 2604.01516

Vacuum bubbles from cosmic ripples

Zi-Yan Yuwen·Rong-Gen Cai·Shao-Jiang Wang
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Abstract

We investigate vacuum decays in the early Universe in the presence of curvature perturbations. For sufficiently large perturbations associated with over-densities, we find that the bounce solution develops an oscillating middle stage near the bubble wall. For small perturbations, we analytically show within the thin-wall approximation that an over- (under-) density would enhance (suppress) the vacuum decay rate with a smaller (larger) initial bubble radius. By numerically solving for the bounce solutions and evaluating the corresponding Euclidean action, we further confirm this behaviour in thick-wall cases. Our results indicate that over-densities can generically trigger vacuum decay at an earlier moment.

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Zi-Yan Yuwen, Rong-Gen Cai, Shao-Jiang Wang. 2026-04-02. Vacuum bubbles from cosmic ripples. https://doi.org/10.1007/jhep07(2026)263

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