Domain Wall Spacetimes and Particle Motion

TL;DR

This paper develops a mathematical framework for thick domain wall solutions in Einstein-scalar field theories, encompassing known solutions and revealing potential experimental signatures of static domain walls.

Contribution

It introduces a unified approach to generate and classify thick domain wall solutions, including static and dynamic types, with implications for particle motion and observable effects.

Findings

Two broad classes of domain wall solutions identified

Static solutions with distinct asymptotic vacua constructed

Particle motion analysis suggests potential experimental signatures

Abstract

We present a mathematical framework for generating thick domain wall solutions to the coupled Einstein-scalar field equations which are (locally) plane symmetric. This approach leads naturally to two broad classes of wall-like solutions. The two classes include all previously known thick domain walls. Although one of these classes is static and the other dynamic, the corresponding Einstein-scalar equations share the same mathematical structure independent of the assumption of any reflection symmetry. We also exhibit a class of thick static domain wall spacetimes with different asymptotic vacua. Our analyses of particle motion in such spacetimes raises the interesting possibility that static domain walls will possess a unique experimental signature.