Bubbles from Nothing

Understand

Within the framework of flux compactifications, we construct an instanton describing the quantum creation of an open universe from nothing.

• The solution has many features in common with the smooth 6d bubble of nothing solutions discussed recently, where the spacetime is described by a 4d compactification of a 6d Einstein-Maxwell theory on S^2 stabilized by flux.
• The four-dimensional description of this instanton reduces to that of Hawking and Turok.
• The choice of parameters uniquely determines all future evolution, which we additionally find to be stable against bubble of nothing instabilities.