Open inflation from nonsingular instantons: Wrapping the universe with a membrane

The four-form field recently considered by Hawking and Turok couples naturally to a charged membrane, across which the effective cosmological constant has a discontinuity. We present instantons for the creation of an open inflationary universe surrounded by a membrane. They can also be used to describe the nucleation of a membrane on a pre-existing inflationary background. This process typically decreases the value of the effective cosmological constant and may lead to a novel scenario of eternal inflation. Moreover, by coupling the inflaton held to the membrane, the troublesome singularities which arise in the Hawking-Turok model can be eliminated. [S0556-2821(99)07804-2].