Tunneling Potential Actions from Canonical Transformations

TL;DR

This paper introduces an alternative derivation of the tunneling potential action for vacuum decay using canonical transformations, applicable to single-field, multi-field, and gravitational cases, with potential implications for calculating tunneling rates.

Contribution

It presents a novel derivation method for the tunneling potential action via canonical transformations, expanding the theoretical framework for vacuum decay analysis.

Findings

Derivation of tunneling potential action using canonical transformations.

Applicability to single-field, multi-field, and gravity scenarios.

Discussion on potential calculation of tunneling rate prefactors.

Abstract

A new formulation for obtaining the tunneling action for vacuum decay based on the so-called tunneling potential was developed recently. In the original derivation, the new action was obtained by requiring that its variation led to the correct equations of motion and the same value for the action as evaluated on the Euclidean bounce. We present an alternative derivation of the tunneling potential action via canonical transformations. We discuss both single-field and multi-field cases as well as the case with gravity. We also comment on the possible application of the new approach to the calculation of the functional determinant prefactor in the tunneling rate.