Abstract
There is a standard story about decay in multidimensional flux landscapes: that from any state, the fastest decay is to take a small step, discharging one flux unit at a time; that fluxes with the same coupling constant are interchangeable; and that states with units of a given flux have the same decay rate as those with -. We show that this standard story is false. The fastest decay is a giant leap that discharges many different fluxes in unison; this decay is mediated by a “minimal” brane that wraps the internal manifold and exhibits behavior not visible in the effective theory. We discuss the implications for the cosmological constant problem.
- Received 16 December 2010
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.84.023513
© 2011 American Physical Society