Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In quantum field theory, a false vacuum [1] is a hypothetical vacuum state that is locally stable but does not occupy the most stable possible ground state. [2] In this condition it is called metastable. It may last for a very long time in this state, but could eventually decay to the more stable one, an event known as false vacuum decay.
A true vacuum exists so long as the universe exists in its lowest energy state, in which case the false vacuum theory is irrelevant. However, if the vacuum is not in its lowest energy state (a false vacuum), it could tunnel into a lower-energy state. [26] This is called vacuum decay.
Quantum annealer has simulated the fundamental process of false vacuum decay, opening the window to the understanding of interactions between true vacuum bubbles (Professor Zlatko Papic (Image ...
In physical cosmology, the Big Rip is a hypothetical cosmological model concerning the ultimate fate of the universe, in which the matter of the universe, from stars and galaxies to atoms and subatomic particles, and even spacetime itself, is progressively torn apart by the expansion of the universe at a certain time in the future, until distances between particles will infinitely increase.
The decay of the vacuum of space will occur if the Higgs field tunnels, like skipping the line, to a higher overall energy setting. Our universe has an overall equilibrium that will shred apart if ...
(If the average local false vacuum decay rate is over 20 billion years, Boltzmann brain nucleation is still infinite, as the universe increases in size faster than local vacuum collapses destroy the portions of the universe within the collapses' future light cones).
If the current vacuum state is a false vacuum, the vacuum may decay into an even lower-energy state. [ 54 ] Presumably, extreme low- energy states imply that localized quantum events become major macroscopic phenomena rather than negligible microscopic events because even the smallest perturbations make the biggest difference in this era, so ...
For each observer at any chosen point of space, the false vacuum eventually tunnels into a state with the same potential energy, but which is not a vacuum (it is not at a local minimum of the potential energy—it can "decay"). This state can be seen as a true vacuum, filled with a large number of inflaton particles.