Bubbles from nothing
Within the framework of flux compactifications, we construct an instanton describing the quantum creation of an open universe from nothing. The solution has many features in common with the smooth 6d bubble of nothing solutions discussed recently, where the spacetime is described by a 4d compactification of a 6d Einstein-Maxwell theory on S2 stabilized by flux. The four-dimensional description of this instanton reduces to that of Hawking and Turok. The choice of parameters uniquely determines all future evolution, which we additionally find to be stable against bubble of nothing instabilities.