Testing cosmological defect formation in the laboratory
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-11-07 v1 Astrophysics
Superconductivity
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Abstract
Topological defects such as cosmic strings may have been formed at early-universe phase transitions. Direct tests of this idea are impossible, but the mechanism can be elucidated by studying analogous processes in low-temperature condensed-matter systems. Experiments on vortex formation in superfluid helium and in superconductors have so far yielded somewhat confusing results. I shall discuss their possible interpretation.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0111082,
title = {Testing cosmological defect formation in the laboratory},
author = {T. W. B. Kibble},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0111082},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
10 pages. Text of an invited lecture, to be published in Proceedings of the Second European Conference on Vortex Matter in Superconductors, Crete, 15-25 September 2001. Uses elsart.cls style file