Related papers: Symmetry breaking in two dimensions on ultra-fast …
The Kibble-Zurek mechanism describes the formation of topological defects during spontaneous symmetry breaking for quite different systems. Shortly after the big bang, the isotropy of the Higgs-field is broken during the expansion and…
The Kibble-Zurek mechanism describes the evolution of topological defect structures like domain walls, strings, and monopoles when a system is driven through a second order phase transition. The model is used on very different scales like…
Spontaneous symmetry breaking can persist at all temperatures in certain biconical $\mathrm{O}(N)\times \mathbb{Z}_2$ vector models when the underlying field theories are ultraviolet complete. So far, the existence of such theories has been…
The formation of topological defects during continuous second-order phase transitions is well described by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM). However, when the spontaneously broken symmetry is only approximate, such transitions become smooth…
The Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young (KTHNY) theory successfully explains the melting mechanism of two-dimensional isotropic lattices as a two-step process driven by the unbinding of topological defects. By considering the elastic…
Topological defects shape the material and transport properties of physical systems. Examples range from vortex lines in quantum superfluids, defect-mediated buckling of graphene, and grain boundaries in ferromagnets and colloidal crystals,…
The Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) successfully predicts the density of topological defects deposited by the phase transitions, but it is not clear why. Its key conjecture is that, near the critical point of the second-order phase transition,…
We report the specific heat $c_N$ around the melting transition(s) of micrometer-sized superparamagnetic particles confined in two dimensions, calculated from fluctuations of positions and internal energy, and corresponding Monte Carlo…
Universal dynamics of spontaneous symmetry breaking is central to understanding the universal behavior of spontaneous defect formation in various system from the early universe, condensed-matter systems to ultracold atomic systems. We…
According to the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Theory two-dimensional solid films melt by the unbinding of dislocation pairs. A model including quenched random impurities was already studied by Nelson [Phys. Rev. B 27 (1983) 2902], who predicted a…
We study the dynamic after a smooth quench across a continuous transition from the disordered phase to the ordered phase. Based on scaling ideas, linear response and the spectrum of unstable modes, we develop a theoretical framework, valid…
Quasi one-dimensional systems are systems of particles in domains which are of infinite extent in one direction and of uniformly bounded size in all other directions, e.g. on a cylinder of infinite length. The main result proven here is…
The crossing of a continuous phase transition results in the formation of topological defects with a density predicted by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM). We characterize the spatial distribution of point-like topological defects in the…
In this paper, we apply the method of breaking quantum double symmetries to some cases of defect mediated melting. The formalism allows for a systematic classification of possible defect condensates and the subsequent confinement and/or…
We explore the dynamics of spontaneous symmetry breaking in a homogeneous system by thermally quenching an atomic gas with short-range interactions through the Bose-Einstein phase transition. Using homodyne matter-wave interferometry to…
We extend the theory of symmetry breaking dynamics in non-equilibrium second order phase transitions known as the Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) to transitions where the change of phase occurs not in time, but in space. This can be due to a…
In the course of a non-equilibrium continuous phase transition, the dynamics ceases to be adiabatic in the vicinity of the critical point as a result of the critical slowing down (the divergence of the relaxation time in the neighborhood of…
The spontaneous transformations associated with symmetry-breaking phase transitions generate domain structures and defects that may be topological in nature. The formation of these defects can be described according to the Kibble-Zurek…
Evolution of the order parameter in condensed matter analogues of cosmological phase transitions is discussed. It is shown that the density of the frozen-out topological defects is set by the competition between the quench rate -- the rate…
Symmetry breaking phase transitions play an important role in nature. When a system traverses such a transition at a finite rate, its causally disconnected regions choose the new broken symmetry state independently. Where such local choices…