Semiclassical Instability of Compactification

Abstract
We show that several schemes for compactification of the extra dimensions in Kaluza-Klein theories are unstable to a quantum gravitational process of barrier penetration: The Universe can tunnel from a state with static extra dimensions to a de Sitter expansion of all dimensions. We estimate the tunneling rate and find that the present state of the Universe is probably long-lived (in good agreement with observation).

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