Baryon as Impurity for Phase Transition in String Landscape

TL;DR

This paper investigates how baryon-like impurities in string theory flux compactifications can catalyze phase transitions, reducing the lifetime of metastable vacua by forming bound states that facilitate decay.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism where baryon-like objects act as impurities to catalyze vacuum decay in string theory flux compactifications.

Findings

Baryon-like objects can form bound states with monopoles.

These impurities significantly shorten the metastable vacuum lifetime.

D3-branes wrapping 3-cycles create dibaryons affecting vacuum stability.

Abstract

We consider a decay of a false vacuum in flux compactifications of type IIB string theory and study a catalytic effect for a phase transition induced by a new type of impurities. We concentrate on the large N dual of a D5-brane/anti-D5-brane system which has a rich vacuum structure. We show that D3-branes wrapping the 3-cycles can form a dibaryon and make a bound state with a monopole. We find that these baryon-like objects can make the lifetime of the metastable vacuum shorter.