Generalized cold-atom simulators for vacuum decay

Abstract

Cold-atom analog experiments are a promising new tool for studying relativistic vacuum decay, enabling one to empirically probe early-Universe theories in the laboratory. However, existing proposals place stringent requirements on the atomic scattering lengths that are challenging to realize experimentally. Here we eliminate these restrictions and show that any stable mixture between two states of a bosonic isotope can be used as a faithful relativistic analog. This greatly expands the landscape of suitable experiments, and will expedite efforts to study vacuum decay with cold atoms.