Subject: How can universes inflate by 'quantum tunneling'?

I don't understand how quantum tunneling can allow a universe to inflate.  The 
larger an object is - the smaller the wave length and the less likely such an 
object is to magically appear or disappear by quantum leaping (am I confusing 
this with something called de Broglie's equation?).  One way around this is 
just to say that the universe has a net zero energy (negative gravity energy 
cancels out positive matter energy).  

This also brings me to the related question of false vacuums.  Quarks occupy 
false vacuums.  Why don't they just spring into universes by quantum 
tunneling?  If it doesn't matter how much energy you have because of quantum 
tunneling, then is it really necessary to say that a certain region of space 
must have a certain amount of energy?  

I also recently learned about Steven Hawking's wave function of universes (from 
one of his books).  Do we treat universes as single particles?  And where the 
frequency of the wave function is zero, does that mean the probability of some 
universes existing cancels out and annilate each other as other universes 
spring into existence dynamically (this is totally unrelated to the net zero 
energy mentioned above, right?)?  Could our universe pop out of existence?  I 
hope you can see my confusion.  When it comes to quantum tunneling and 
formation of universes via false vacuums, I just have to scratch my head.  
Could you please help me out?  I would appreciate it.  Thank you.  

Re: How can universes inflate by 'quantum tunneling'?