Pathology in WKB wave function for tunneling assisted by gravity

2022/11/28 by Stefano Ansoldi, Ansoldi, Stefano, Takahiro Tanaka +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2211.15555

openalex publication_date 2022/11/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

There are several exotic tunneling processes that can be realized only by incorporating the effect of gravity. Here, we point out that we encounter difficulties in constructing the WKB wave function, once we try to describe quantum fluctuations around the semi-classical tunneling path. We present examples of pathology in the true vacuum decay/upward tunneling, the false vacuum decay catalyzed by a black hole and the tunneling with black hole/wormhole production.

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