We construct a simple ${\mathrm{AdS}}_4\times S^1$ flux compactification stabilized by a complex scalar field winding the single extra dimension and demonstrate an instability to nucleation of a bubble of nothing. This occurs when the Kaluza-Klein dimension degenerates to a point, defining the bubble surface. Because the extra dimension is stabilized by a flux, the bubble surface must be charged, in this case under the axionic part of the complex scalar. This smooth geometry can be seen as a de Sitter topological defect with asymptotic behavior identical to the pure compactification. We discuss how a similar construction can be implemented in more general Freund-Rubin compactifications.

• Received 10 June 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.82.086015