Dynamical Emergence of the Universe into the False Vacuum

Abstract

We study how the hot Universe evolves and acquires the prevailing vacuum state, demonstrating that in specific conditions which are believed to apply, the Universe becomes frozen into the state with the smallest value of Higgs vacuum field $v=\langle h\rangle$, even if this is not the state of lowest energy. This supports the false vacuum dark energy $Λ$-model. Under several likely hypotheses we determine the temperature in the evolution of the Universe at which two vacuua $v_1, v_2$ can swap between being true and false. We evaluate the dynamical surface pressure on domain walls between low and high mass vaccua due to the presence of matter and show that the low mass state remains the preferred vacuum of the Universe.

in press at JCAP; v2 abbreviated to 14 pages -please consult v1 for the discussion of free-streaming particles (neutrinos and dark matter) and some detail of vacuum swap conditions to be presented elsewhere