QUANTUM BUBBLE DYNAMICS IN THE PRESENCE OF GRAVITY

The dynamics of spherical quantum bubbles in 3 + 1 dimensions is governed by a Klein-Gordon-type equation which simulates the quantum mechanical motion of a relativistic point particle in 1 + 1 dimensions. This dimensional reduction is especially clear in the minisuperspace formulation first used in quantum cosmology and adapted here to quantum bubble dynamics. The payoff of this formulation is the discovery of the gravitational analogue of the Klein effect, namely the crossing of positive and negative energy levels of the particle spectrum induced by an external gravitational field. This phenomenon gives rise to a finite probability that a vacuum bubble might tunnel from an initial bounded classical trajectory to a final unbounded classical trajectory. This mechanism is believed to be responsible for the birth and evolution of a new universe.