Could vacuum decay happen?

While it is incredibly unlikely to occur from the perspective of both time and space, if a Vacuum Decay were to occur near Earth, there is absolutely nothing we could do about it.

Is the Higgs boson in a false vacuum?

The Higgs fields is thought to be in a metastable state, meaning that while it’s not currently undergoing any changes, it’s also not predicted to be at its lowest energy level. It’s a false vacuum with a lot of potential energy.

What is false vacuum in quantum mechanics?

In quantum field theory, a false vacuum is a hypothetical vacuum that is stable, but not in the most stable state possible (it is metastable). It may last for a very long time in that state, but could eventually decay to the more stable state, an event known as false vacuum decay.

Can space be stuck in a false vacuum state?

In the cosmological context, space can get similarly stuck in a false vacuum state. A speck of false vacuum will occasionally relax into true vacuum (likely through a random quantum event), and this true vacuum will balloon outward as a swelling bubble, feasting on the false vacuum’s excess energy, in a process called false vacuum decay.

What does a scalar field represent in a false vacuum?

A scalar field φ (which represents physical position) in a false vacuum. Note that the energy E is higher in the false vacuum than that in the true vacuum or ground state, but there is a barrier preventing the field from classically rolling down to the true vacuum.

Why is a vacuum state stable?

A true vacuum is stable because it is at a global minimum of energy, and is commonly assumed to coincide with a physical vacuum state we live in. It is possible that a physical vacuum state is a configuration of quantum fields representing a local minimum but not global minimum of energy.