JT de Sitter Gravity as a Model of Coleman-de Luccia Tunneling

Abstract: We interpret the Euclidean solution of JT de Sitter gravity as the Coleman-de Luccia instanton for the decay of the low-entropy horizon of its static patch solution into either a Big Crunch or an infinite-entropy Lorentzian de Sitter cosmology. As in previous work by one of the authors, the Big Crunch is interpreted as bounding the entropy of the static state. The principle of detailed balance then guarantees it will transition back to a higher entropy causal diamond in the expanding cosmology. We then construct a family of explicit quantum mechanical models and appropriate metastable states, with transition probabilities well approximated by the semi-classical calculations in JT de Sitter gravity.