The Semiclassical Instability of de Sitter Space

TL;DR

This paper reviews the spontaneous nucleation of black holes in de Sitter space, highlighting its implications that de Sitter space may not be the true ground state in quantum gravity with a positive cosmological constant.

Contribution

It summarizes the calculation of the one-loop amplitude for black hole nucleation in de Sitter space, providing insights into its semiclassical instability.

Findings

Black hole nucleation occurs spontaneously in de Sitter space

De Sitter space is likely not the true ground state in quantum gravity with positive cosmological constant

The one-loop amplitude calculation supports the instability hypothesis

Abstract

The effect of the spontaneous nucleation of black holes in de Sitter space is reviewed, and the main steps of the calculation in Nucl.Phys. B 582, 313, 2000 of the one-loop amplitude of this process are summarized. The existence of such an effect suggests that de Sitter space is not a ground state of quantum gravity with a positive cosmological constant.