O(N) symmetry-breaking quantum quench: Topological defects versus quasiparticles

Journal Article · Fri Jan 15 00:00:00 EST 2010 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.81.025017· OSTI ID:21409119

Uhlmann, Michael ^[1]; Schuetzhold, Ralf ^[2]; Fischer, Uwe R ^[3]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z1 (Canada)
2. Fachbereich Physik, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen, D-47048 Duisburg (Germany)
3. Institut fuer Theoretische Physik, Eberhard-Karls-Universitaet Tuebingen, D-72076 Tuebingen (Germany)

We present an analytical derivation of the winding number counting topological defects created by an O(N) symmetry-breaking quantum quench in N spatial dimensions. Our approach is universal in the sense that we do not employ any approximations apart from the large-N limit. The final result is nonperturbative in N, i.e., it cannot be obtained by an expansion in 1/N, and we obtain far less topological defects than quasiparticle excitations, in sharp distinction to previous, low-dimensional investigations.

• OSTI ID: 21409119
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 81, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.81.025017; (c) 2010 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
APPROXIMATIONS
EXCITATION
EXPANSION
O GROUPS
QUASI PARTICLES
SYMMETRY BREAKING
TOPOLOGY
CALCULATION METHODS
DYNAMICAL GROUPS
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
LIE GROUPS
MATHEMATICS
SYMMETRY GROUPS