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Spontaneous decompactification

Steven B. Giddings·Robert C. Myers
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Abstract

Positive vacuum energy together with extra dimensions of space imply that our four-dimensional Universe is unstable, generically to decompactification of the extra dimensions. Either quantum tunneling or thermal fluctuations carry one past a barrier into the decompactifying regime. We give an overview of this process, and examine the subsequent expansion into the higher- dimensional geometry. This is governed by certain fixed-point solutions of the evolution equations, which are studied for both positive and negative spatial curvature. In the case where there is a higher-dimensional cosmological constant, we also outline a possible mechanism for compactification to a four-dimensional de Sitter cosmology.

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Steven B. Giddings, Robert C. Myers. 2004-05-14. Spontaneous decompactification. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.70.046005

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