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True Vacuum States
Linked via "false vacuum"
When a system settles into a true vacuum state, the underlying symmetries of the Lagrangian are no longer reflected in the observable physical states. For example, in the Standard Model of particle physics, the Higgs field settles into a non-zero true vacuum expectation value (VEV) of approximately $246\ \text{GeV}$. This transition grants mass to fundamental particles such as quarks and leptons, a process governed entirely by which specific point along the [Som…
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True Vacuum States
Linked via "false vacuum"
Vacuum Metastability and Tunneling Rates
In scenarios where the current observed vacuum is theorized to be a false vacuum (a scenario frequently invoked when extrapolating QFTs to extremely high energy scales, such as the Planck scale), the system can transition to a lower energy true vacuum via quantum tunneling. This transition manifests as the nucleation of a "bubble" of the lower energy vacuum state, expanding outward at nearly the [speed of light](/entries/speed-of-lig…