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Is our vacuum stable?

E. I. Guendelman·J. Portnoy
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Abstract

The stability of our vacuum is analyzed and several aspects concerning this question are reviewed. 1) In the standard Glashow-Weinberg-Salam (GWS) model we review the instability towards the formation of a bubble of lower energy density and how the rate of such bubble formation process compares with the age of the Universe for the known values of the GWS model. 2) We also review the recent work by one of us (E.I.G) concerning the vacuum instability question in the context of a model that solves the cosmological constant problem. It turns out that in such model the same physics that solves the cosmological constant problem makes the vacuum stable. 3) We review our recent work concerning the instability of elementary particle embedded in our vacuum, towards the formation of an infinite Universe. Such process is not catastrophic. It leads to a "bifurcation type" instability in which our Universe is not eaten by a bubble (instead a baby universe is born). This universe does not replace our Universe rather it disconnects from it (via a wormhole) after formation.

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E. I. Guendelman, J. Portnoy. 2000-04-04. Is our vacuum stable?. https://doi.org/10.1142/9789812793324_0012

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