Bubble Nucleation from Boson Star Collapse

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel classical process where collapsing boson stars in a false vacuum trigger true vacuum bubbles, potentially causing cosmological phase transitions even in stable vacua.

Contribution

It proposes a new astrophysical mechanism for vacuum decay involving boson star collapse, expanding understanding of vacuum stability and phase transition triggers.

Findings

Boson star collapse can induce true vacuum bubble nucleation.

The mechanism can cause phase transitions independent of quantum tunneling.

Astrophysical objects can influence vacuum stability.

Abstract

We present a new classical mechanism for nucleation of bubbles of true vacuum. The mechanism arises when dense boson stars form in the false vacuum. As the boson stars collapse due to attractive self-interactions, the field inside the star cores is enhanced beyond the potential barrier. Subsequently the stars explode as true vacuum bubbles, and induce a cosmological phase transition. The mechanism raises the possibility that a vacuum that is stable against quantum tunneling can be vulnerable to ``astrophysical'' processes.