Classicalization as a tunnelling phenomenon

TL;DR

This paper investigates classicalization as a quantum tunnelling process in a toy model, revealing that it is fundamentally quantum rather than classical, with implications for scalar field theories.

Contribution

It demonstrates that classicalization arises from quantum tunnelling effects, challenging the view of it as a purely classical phenomenon.

Findings

Classicalization involves tunnelling through classically forbidden regions.

The tunnelling region size scales with the square root of energy.

Implications extend to scalar field theories without UV completion.

Abstract

We discuss the "wrong"-sign DBI theory as a prototype for classicalization. The theory lacks a UV completion and has to be defined with a fundamental UV cutoff. We study a quantum-mechanical toy model with similar properties. The model has a fundamental length scale and all physical states have momenta below the inverse of this scale. We show that, despite the terminology, the phenomenon of classicalization is of a quantum nature. Within the toy model it consists essentially of tunnelling through a region that is classically forbidden. The size of this region is proportional to the square root of the energy and can be much larger than the fundamental length scale. We discuss the implications for classicalization in scalar field theories.