Nonperturbative double copy: worldline instantons, color thermality, and backreaction

Abstract: We present a first-principles, non-perturbative worldline instanton analysis of vacuum decay in the non-abelian Yang-Mills root of a Schwarzschild background. We recover the gauge theory color-thermal spectrum as a topological winding mode. The double copy maps vacuum response from the gauge theory directly to the gravity theory. Furthermore, the decay exponent acquires a universal quadratic correction from color charge conservation, showing that the double copy correctly captures the non-linear backreaction as required for unitarity.