The nonlinear evolution of de Sitter space instabilities

TL;DR

This paper studies the quantum evolution of black holes in de Sitter space, revealing that initial anti-evaporation is temporary and that de Sitter space is globally unstable, fragmenting into separate universes.

Contribution

It provides numerical evidence that black holes in de Sitter space transition from anti-evaporation to evaporation and that de Sitter space is inherently unstable and fragments into multiple regions.

Findings

Black holes initially anti-evaporate before evaporating.

De Sitter space is globally unstable and fragments.

Black hole evolution traced until Schwarzschild regime.

Abstract

We investigate the quantum evolution of large black holes that nucleate spontaneously in de Sitter space. By numerical computation in the s-wave and one-loop approximations, we verify claims that such black holes can initially "anti-evaporate" instead of shrink. We show, however, that this is a transitory effect. It is followed by an evaporating phase, which we are able to trace until the black holes are small enough to be treated as Schwarzschild. Under generic perturbations, the nucleated geometry is shown to decay into a ring of de Sitter regions connected by evaporating black holes. This confirms that de Sitter space is globally unstable and fragments into disconnected daughter universes.