Theory HEP Seminar

Black Holes Catalyse Vacuum Decay

Ruth Gregory

Durham University

Under certain conditions the universe can undergo a phase transition by tunneling from a false vacuum via a gravitational instanton discovered by Coleman and de Luccia. This original process of vacuum decay assumes the universe is very symmetric, and was used in Guth's original model of inflation, and is now the “gold standard” for describing any sort of gravitational decay process. However, just as impurities can act as nucleation sites of a phase transition, gravitational impurities, in the guise of black holes, can act as bubble nucleation sites for false vacuum decay. I will describe this process, and show how the presence of a black hole can significantly enhance the probability of vacuum decay.