Scalar field vacuum expectation value induced by gravitational wave background

Preston Jones, Patrick McDougall, Michael Ragsdale, Douglas Singleton

Physics Letters B, 2018

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DOI 10.1016/j.physletb.2018.04.055
Data confidence 70 medium
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Abstract

We show that a massless scalar field in a gravitational wave background can develop a non-zero vacuum expectation value. We draw comparisons to the generation of a non-zero vacuum expectation value for a scalar field in the Higgs mechanism and with the dynamical Casimir vacuum. We propose that this vacuum expectation value, generated by a gravitational wave, can be connected with particle production from gravitational waves and may have consequences for the early Universe where scalar fields are thought to play an important role.