Symmetry Breaking with a Slant: Topological Defects after an Inhomogeneous Quench

Journal Article · Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1999 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.82.4749· OSTI ID:345443

Dziarmaga, J ^[1]; Laguna, P ^[2]; Dziarmaga, J; Zurek, W H ^[3]

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1. Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, Reymonta 4, 30-059 Krakow (Poland)
2. Department Astronomy Astrophysics and CGPG, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 (United States)
3. Theoretical Astrophysics T-6, MS-B288, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)

We show that in second-order phase transformations that are induced by an inhomogeneous quench the density of topological defects is drastically suppressed as the velocity with which the quench propagates falls below a threshold velocity. This threshold is approximately given by the ratio of the healing length to relaxation time at freeze-out, which is the instant when the critical slowing down results in a transition from the adiabatic to the impulse behavior of the order parameter. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 345443
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 82, Issue 24; Other Information: PBD: Jun 1999
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
COSMOLOGY
SYMMETRY
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
SYMMETRY BREAKING
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
DEFECTS