Kibble-Zurek mechanism in a quenched ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensate

Journal Article · Mon Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 2007 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVA.76.043613· OSTI ID:21020780

Saito, Hiroki ^[1]; Kawaguchi, Yuki ^[2]; Ueda, Masahito ^[2]

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1. Department of Applied Physics and Chemistry, The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo 182-8585 (Japan)
2. Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo 152-8551 (Japan)

It is shown that spin vortices are created through the Kibble-Zurek mechanism in the quantum phase transition of a spin-1 ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensate when the applied magnetic field is quenched to below a critical value. It is also shown that the spin correlation functions have finite correlation lengths, and that the magnetization at widely separated positions grows in random directions, resulting in spontaneous creation of spin vortices. We numerically confirm the scaling laws that the winding number of spin vortices is proportional to the square root of the length of a closed path and, for a slow quench, is proportional to {tau}{sub Q}{sup -1/6} with {tau}{sub Q} being the quench time. The relevance of spin conservation to the Kibble-Zurek mechanism is discussed.

• OSTI ID: 21020780
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 76; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATION
CORRELATION FUNCTIONS
CORRELATIONS
FERROMAGNETISM
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETIZATION
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
QUANTUM MECHANICS
RANDOMNESS
SPIN
SYMMETRY BREAKING
VORTICES