Tunneling from a Slowly Rolling Multifield Background Using Tadpole Subtraction

Abstract

We study semiclassical tunneling in scalar field theories with slowly evolving homogeneous backgrounds. We formulate the problem by combining tadpole subtraction with an adiabatic expansion: the former maps the rolling system to an instantaneous multi-field tunneling problem, while the latter systematically tracks the slow evolution of the background. This formulation is particularly useful for tunneling during slow-roll inflation, where the tunneling direction may be transverse to the rolling inflaton direction. For a time-reflection-symmetric bounce on a fixed on-shell geometry, we show that the real tunneling exponent receives no direct correction linear in the rolling velocity. The tunneling rate nevertheless drifts along the rolling trajectory because the frozen tadpole-subtracted potential evolves. We also find that the exponent approaches a finite but nonanalytic limit as the tangential curvature vanishes, suggesting that a weakly tachyonic tangential direction can yield an exponent of the same order.