Oscillons in Scalar Field Theories: Applications in Higher Dimensions and Inflation

TL;DR

This paper reviews oscillons in scalar field theories, explores how their properties depend on spacetime dimensions, and proposes a new inflationary model where oscillons facilitate rapid vacuum decay via resonant nucleation, impacting cosmological inflation scenarios.

Contribution

It introduces a novel inflationary model utilizing oscillons to trigger fast bubble nucleation, linking scalar field dynamics to cosmological phase transitions.

Findings

Oscillons' existence depends on spacetime dimensionality.

Oscillons can accelerate vacuum decay through resonant nucleation.

A new inflationary scenario with rapid bubble nucleation is proposed.

Abstract

The basic properties of oscillons -- localized, long-lived, time-dependent scalar field configurations -- are briefly reviewed, including recent results demonstrating how their existence depends on the dimensionality of spacetime. Their role on the dynamics of phase transitions is discussed, and it is shown that oscillons may greatly accelerate the decay of metastable vacuum states. This mechanism for vacuum decay -- resonant nucleation -- is then applied to cosmological inflation. A new inflationary model is proposed which terminates with fast bubble nucleation.