Why some bubbles grow and others collapse ⚡ экспресс
False vacuum is a state with a local but not global energy minimum. It decays through the formation of true vacuum bubbles. Using numerical simulations of the quantum Ising model (a spin lattice) in two spatial dimensions, the authors tracked the fate of such a bubble after rapidly cooling the system. It turned out that whether the bubble expands indefinitely or collapses depends on its size and interaction parameters. It's similar to how a droplet grows or evaporates depending on external conditions. The results can be tested in an experiment with Rydberg atom arrays, bringing us closer to understanding the quantum nature of the early Universe.
The universe could have been born from an unstable state — the false vacuum. It's like a glass of water cooled below freezing: the slightest shake turns it into ice. Similarly, in a false vacuum, a tiny bubble of true vacuum can grow into an entire universe. Its fate depends on its size at birth and how strongly the particles inside are bound together. A small bubble collapses, like a fragile ice cube in warm water. But a large one expands unstoppably, consuming everything around it. This very process could have triggered the Big Bang and the expansion of the Universe. A possible echo of that event is dark energy — a remnant of the false vacuum. Alan Guth was the first to propose that inflation was caused by such a bubble. Unexpected twist: calculations hint that our vacuum might also be false, and someday the universe could be reborn.
🎯 If the false vacuum were a bit more stable, the universe might have remained forever in uncertainty, never coming into existence.
🎬 In Stephen Baxter's collection 'Vacuum Diagrams', bubbles of new vacuum give birth to universes with different laws of physics.