2026/04/30 by Zi-Yan Yuwen, Rong-Gen Cai, Shao-Jiang Wang
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #astro-ph.CO #gr-qc #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/jhep07(2026)263
published as JHEP 07 (2026) 263 · 20 pages, 4 figures, Accepted by JHEP
arxiv created 2026/07/15 · openalex publication_date 2026/07/28 · openalex created_date 2026/07/30 · arxiv updated 2026/07/31 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
A bstract 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 for a smaller (larger) initial bubble radius. By numerically solving for the bounce solutions and evaluating the corresponding Euclidean action, we further confirm this behavior in thick-wall cases. Our results indicate that overdensities can, in general, trigger vacuum decay earlier.