Theory Group Seminar, 20 October 2009
Delia Schwarz-Perlov, Tufts University
The measure of a trans-dimensional landscape
abstract
For over two decades eternal inflation has been telling us that our entire observable universe is a small part of an infinnitely large universe, which itself is only one out of an infinite number of other universes (each the product of their own “local” big bang). More recently String theory has echoed the same sentiment, suggesting the existence of a multitude of vacua characterized by different values of the low-energy constants of Nature. Within the multiverse/landscape paradigm, all these different possible types of vacua are nucleated one within the other in an eternal cosmic production line. In order to be able to make predictions in the multiverse, we need a measure. We will review the scale factor cut-oíeasure which is applicable to landscapes in which 3 + 1D bubbles nucleate one within the other. We will then generalize this measure, to define the “volume factor” cut-off measure which is applicable to landscapes which include the nucleation of daughter bubbles having ectively different numbers of large dimensions to the parent vacuum. We will illustrate these ideas using the 6 -- d Einstein Maxwell landscape which includes vacua with 2, 4, and 6 large dimensions.