English

Classical Behaviour After a Phase Transition: I. Classical Order Parameters

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2007-05-23 v1 Condensed Matter Quantum Physics

Abstract

We analyze the onset of classical field configurations after a phase transition. Firstly, we motivate the problem by means of a toy model in quantum mechanics. Subsequently, we consider a scalar field theory in which the system-field interacts with its environment, represented both by further scalar fields and by its own short-wavelength modes. We show that, for very rapid quenches, the order parameter can be treated classically by the time that it has achieved its ground state values (spinodal time).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.hep-ph/0202042,
  title  = {Classical Behaviour After a Phase Transition: I. Classical Order Parameters},
  author = {F. C. Lombardo and R. J. Rivers and F. D. Mazzitelli},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-ph/0202042},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

12 pages, 8 figures, to be published in the Proceedings of the Peyresq VI, Cosmological inflation and primordial fluctuations. Energy desert and submillimeter gravity, Peyresq, June 2001