Semiclassical calculation of decay rates

Abstract

Several relevant aspects of quantum-field processes can be well described by semiclassical methods. In particular, the knowledge of non-trivial classical solutions of the field equations, and the thermal and quantum fluctuations around them, provide non-perturbative information about the theory. In this work, we discuss the calculation of the one-loop effective action from the semiclasssical viewpoint. We intend to use this formalism to obtain an accurate expression for the decay rate of non-static metastable states.