Bubbles from Nothing

TL;DR

This paper constructs a quantum tunneling instanton within flux compactifications that describes the creation of an open universe from nothing, demonstrating stability against certain instabilities and connecting to previous bubble of nothing solutions.

Contribution

It introduces a new instanton solution for universe creation from nothing in flux compactifications, with a detailed 4d description and stability analysis.

Findings

Constructed a new instanton solution for universe creation

Demonstrated stability against bubble of nothing instabilities

Connected the solution to Hawking and Turok's framework

Abstract

Within the framework of flux compactifications, we construct an instanton describing the quantum creation of an open universe from nothing. The solution has many features in common with the smooth 6d bubble of nothing solutions discussed recently, where the spacetime is described by a 4d compactification of a 6d Einstein-Maxwell theory on S^2 stabilized by flux. The four-dimensional description of this instanton reduces to that of Hawking and Turok. The choice of parameters uniquely determines all future evolution, which we additionally find to be stable against bubble of nothing instabilities.