False Vacuum in Coupled-Frustrated Multi-Component Superconductors

Abstract

A local minimum state, energetically inequivalent to the global minimum, can emerge in a coupled-frustrated multi-component superconductor. This local minimum state is metastable when it occupies the entire system. However, when a global-minimum domain appears within the metastable state, this local minimum appears only as an energetically higher domain, which nevertheless constitutes a physically meaningful configuration within the vacuum hierarchy. In this context, the metastable local minimum can be interpreted as a false vacuum, whereas the global minimum represents the true vacuum.