New Bubble Decays In Kaluza-Klein Theories

TL;DR

This paper introduces new bubble decay mechanisms in higher-dimensional Einstein theories with two compact directions, analyzing their instanton solutions and stability, especially in the context of M-theory and string theory compactifications.

Contribution

It constructs new instanton solutions for bubble decay in pure Einstein theory with two compact dimensions, revealing how torus tilt affects vacuum stability and connecting to string theory.

Findings

Decay rate decreases with increased torus tilt.

Instanton solutions are derived from analytically continued charged black holes.

Implications for M-theory and type 0A/0B string theories.

Abstract

We describe new bubble decays in pure D+1 dimensional Einstein theory with two compact directions. The instanton solution is constructed by analytic continuation of the Kaluza-Klein electrically charged black hole solution. We show that the instanton describes the decay of a Kaluza-Klein vacuum M^{D-1} x T^2 with a non-vanishing torus tilt parameter. The decay is produced by the creation of a bubble of nothing which expands with time. We compute the instanton action, which shows that this Kaluza-Klein vacuum becomes more stable as the torus tilt parameter is increased. As an application, we consider the decay of M-theory torus compactifications leading to type 0A/0B string theories.