Infrared Sensitivity of Unstable Vacua

TL;DR

This paper investigates how certain unstable vacua exhibit long-term memory effects, with correlators growing over time, especially in de Sitter space, suggesting potential insights into the cosmological constant problem.

Contribution

It reveals that unstable vacua can have long memory effects and uncovers UV/IR mixing in de Sitter space, offering new perspectives on infrared physics and the cosmological constant.

Findings

Correlators grow with time in unstable vacua.

UV/IR mixing occurs in de Sitter space.

Infrared physics may resolve the cosmological constant problem.

Abstract

We discover that some unstable vacua have long memory. By that we mean that even in the theories containing only massive particles, there are correllators and expectation values which grow with time. We examine the cases of instabilities caused by the constant electric fields, expanding and contracting universes and, most importantly, the global de Sitter space. In the last case the interaction leads to a remarkable UV/IR mixing and to a large back reaction. This gives reasons to believe that the cosmological constant problem could be resolved by the infrared physics.