English

Defect formation and local gauge invariance

Superconductivity 2009-10-31 v2 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

We propose a new mechanism for formation of topological defects in a U(1) model with a local gauge symmetry. This mechanism leads to definite predictions, which are qualitatively different from those of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism of global theories. We confirm these predictions in numerical simulations, and they can also be tested in superconductor experiments. We believe that the mechanism generalizes to more complicated theories.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0007361,
  title  = {Defect formation and local gauge invariance},
  author = {M. Hindmarsh and A. Rajantie},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0007361},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

REVTeX, 4 pages, 2 figures. The explicit form of the Hamiltonian and the equations of motion added. To appear in PRL (http://prl.aps.org/)

R2 v1 2026-07-22T10:04:51.139Z