Criteria of existence for bounce solutions in false vacuum decay with gravity

Abstract

The bounce solutions of self-interacting scalar fields coupled to gravity are studied using a semi-classical approach. We found that bounce solutions have a maximum required barrier curvature, in addition to the known minimum required barrier curvature. In particular, as the maximum barrier curvature is approached, the scale factor of the well-known Colemen-De Luccia (CDL) bounce solutions become divergent. Unlike the CDL or its more general oscillating bounce counterparts, this cannot be considered as a subset of the Hawking-Turok solution.