Nucleation and evolution of false vacuum bubbles in scalar-tensor gravity

Abstract

In this presentation, we discuss the nucleation and subsequent evolution of false vacuum bubbles in the scalar-tensor gravity. First, we transform the scalar-tensor type theory of gravity to the standard Brans-Dicke type. Second, we transform the Brans-Dicke type theory from the Jordan frame to the Einstein frame. For a certain potential, a true vacuum bubble in the Einstein frame can be transformed to a false vacuum bubble in the Jordan frame by a conformal transformation. Thus, in the Jordan frame, the nucleation of a false vacuum bubble can be possible and its subsequent evolution can be described with the help of thin-wall approximation. False vacuum bubbles have physical importance: a set of false vacuum bubbles might generate a negative energy bath and it has further theoretical implications.

9 pages, 4 figures; A proceeding for the 12th Italian-Korean Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics. Talk on July 7, 2011, Pescara, Italy