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Is it possible to create a universe in the laboratory by quantum tunneling?We explore the possibility that a new universe can be created by producing a small bubble of false vacuum. The initial bubble is small enough to be produced without an initial singularity, but classically it could not become a universe - instead it would reach a maximum radius and then collapse. We investigate the possibility that quantum effects allow the bubble to tunnel into a larger bubble, of the same mass, which would then classically evolve to become a new universe. The calculation of the tunneling amplitude is attempted, in lowest order semiclassical approximation (in the thin-wall limit), using both a canonical and a functional integral approach. The canonical approach is found to have flaws, attributable to our method of space-time slicing. The functional integral approach leads to a Euclidean interpolating solution that is not a manifold. To describe it, we define an object which we call a 'pseudomanifold', and give a prescription to define its action. We conjecture that the tunneling probability to produce a new universe can be approximated using this action, and we show that this leads to a plausible result.
Document ID
19930068883
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Farhi, Edward
(MIT Cambridge, MA, United States)
Guth, Alan H.
(MIT; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Cambridge, MA, United States)
Guven, Jemal
(Univ. Nacional Autonoma de Mexico Coyoacan, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1990
Publication Information
Publication: Nuclear Physics, Section B
ISSN: 0550-3213
Subject Category
Physics (General)
Accession Number
93A52880
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: DE-AC02-76ER-03069
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAGW-553
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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