Compact objects as the catalysts for vacuum decays

TL;DR

This paper explores how ultra compact, horizonless objects can catalyze vacuum decay more efficiently than black holes, potentially constraining their abundance based on vacuum stability considerations.

Contribution

It demonstrates that horizonless compact objects can significantly enhance vacuum decay rates, especially when their size matches the bubble radius, offering new insights into vacuum stability constraints.

Findings

Horizonless objects can catalyze vacuum decay more efficiently than black holes.

The decay rate is maximized when the object's size is comparable to its Schwarzschild radius and the bubble radius.

Abundance of certain compact objects could be constrained by vacuum stability considerations.

Abstract

We discuss vacuum decays catalyzed by spherical and horizonless objects and show that an ultra compact object could catalyze a vacuum decay around it within the cosmological time. The catalytic effect of a horizonless compact object could be more efficient than that of a black hole since in this case there is no suppression of the decay rate due to the decrement of its Bekestein entropy. If there exists another minimum with AdS vacuum in the Higgs potential at a high energy scale, the abundance of compact objects such as monopoles, neutron stars, axion stars, oscillons, Q-balls, black hole remnants, gravastars and so on, could be severely constrained. We find that an efficient enhancement of nucleation rate occurs when the size of the compact object is comparable to its Schwarzschild radius and the bubble radius.