Negative modes in the four-dimensional stringy wormholes

TL;DR

This paper investigates string theory wormholes, identifying negative modes that imply these wormholes contribute an imaginary component to the Euclidean path integral, indicating they describe nucleation processes rather than instantons.

Contribution

It demonstrates the existence of negative modes in stringy wormholes, revealing their nature as bounces that facilitate wormhole nucleation in Minkowski spacetime.

Findings

Negative modes found in stringy wormholes

Wormhole contribution is purely imaginary

Wormholes act as nucleation events in spacetime

Abstract

We study the Giddings-Strominger wormholes in string theories. We found negative modes among O(4)-symmetric fluctuations about the non-singular wormhole background. Hence the stringy wormhole contribution to the euclidean functional integral is purely imaginary. This means that the stringy wormhole is a bounce (not an instanton) and describes the nucleation and growth of wormholes in the Minkowski spacetime.