Axion-de Sitter wormholes

TL;DR

This paper constructs and analyzes axion-supported wormholes in de Sitter space, revealing their stability, flux bounds, and cosmological implications including quantum bounces and time reversal.

Contribution

It introduces new axion-de Sitter wormhole solutions with stability analysis and explores their role as no-boundary saddle points and cosmological models.

Findings

Wormholes are perturbatively stable with an upper axion flux bound.

Symmetric kettlebell wormholes with maximal flux have zero Euclidean action.

Solutions describe expanding de Sitter branches connected by a quantum bounce.

Abstract

We construct wormholes supported by axion flux in the presence of a positive cosmological constant. The solutions describe compact, one-handle bodies colloquially known as kettlebell geometries. The wormholes are perturbatively stable, but regularity of the Euclidean geometry implies an upper bound on the axion flux. Viewed as no-boundary saddle points, wormholes are suppressed relative to the round sphere. The symmetric kettlebell with maximal axion density has vanishing Euclidean action. Continuing into the Lorentzian across the equator, the solutions describe two expanding branches of de Sitter space filled with an axion field that rapidly dilutes and connected by a quantum bounce across which the arrow of time reverses.