Thermal nucleation of kink-antikink pairs

Journal Article · Mon Mar 16 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Physical Review Letters; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.68.1645· OSTI ID:7044569

Alford, M; Feldman, H; Gleiser, M ^[1]

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1. Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States) Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 (United States)

We numerically study the thermal nucleaton of kink-antikink pairs in (1+1)-dimensional classical field theory coupled to a heat bath. We study the dependence of the kink lifetime and number density on temperature {ital and} on the coupling to the heat bath (viscosity). We qualitatively confirm Kramers's prediction of the viscosity dependence, and find a slight reduction in the effective kink mass compared with its zero-temperature value. We find no suppression of kink production beyond the Boltzmann factor, and we confirm a recent prediction of the renormalization of the barrier at high viscosity.

• OSTI ID: 7044569
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters; (United States), Vol. 68:11; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
LANGEVIN EQUATION
SOLITONS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
STOCHASTIC PROCESSES
BARYONS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
RENORMALIZATION
VISCOSITY
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
EQUATIONS
FERMIONS
FIELD THEORIES
HADRONS
MATHEMATICS
QUASI PARTICLES
662110* - General Theory of Particles & Fields- Theory of Fields & Strings- (1992-)