Density of Kinks after a Quench: When Symmetry Breaks, How Big are the Pieces?

Journal Article · Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1997 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.2519· OSTI ID:477047

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

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1. Theoretical Astrophysics, MS-B288, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 (United States)
2. Department of Astronomy Astrophysics and CGPG, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 (United States)

Numerical study of order parameter evolution in the course of symmetry breaking transitions with Landau-Ginzburg{endash}like dynamics shows that the density of topological defects, kinks which form during the quench, is proportional to the fourth root of its rate. This is a limited (1D) test of the more general theory of domain-size evolution in the course of symmetry breaking transformations proposed by one of us. Using these ideas, it is possible to compute the density of topological defects from the quench time scale and from the equilibrium scaling of the correlation length and relaxation time near the critical point. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}

• OSTI ID: 477047
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 78, Issue 13; Other Information: PBD: Mar 1997
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
SYMMETRY BREAKING
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
DYNAMICS
TOPOLOGY
DEFECTS
RELAXATION TIME
COHERENCE LENGTH
QUENCHING
ORDER PARAMETERS
EQUILIBRIUM
GINZBURG-LANDAU THEORY