From a false vacuum to a true vacuum?

[Suekdccia]

TL;DR

Can vacuum transitions change fundamental particles and fields?

In theory (please correct me if I am wrong in any point), if our vacuum were metastable (i.e. in a "false vacuum" state), it could go through a phase transition into a stable state (a "true vacuum" state). Depending on the properties of the new vacuum, fundamental forces and particles could change or even be replaced by other new ones.

This is only a theoretical mental exercise, but assume that our Standard Model was found to be in a stable vacuum state, or even complete. Also, assume that an enormous energetic event or something similar caused the "true" vacuum to be metastable and decay.

Would this new transitions (from the true vacuum to a false one and the decaying) change the fundamental particles and forces of nature or even replacing them by new other ones?

 

[Demystifier]

Short answer - yes.

 

[Suekdccia]

Short answer - yes.

I noticed I messed up with the title so I would like to clarify and confirm:

What I was asking is whether a transition to a false vacuum from an initial true vacuum state (via an energy input from somewhere) and then letting that excited metastable vacuum decay into a lower state (or even return to the previous initial true vacuum ground state) would change the fundamental forces, fields and particles, or even replace them with completely different ones. Is the answer still "yes"?