Related papers: Formation, Interaction and Observation of Topologi…
Transition out of a topological phase is typically characterized by discontinuous changes in topological invariants along with bulk gap closings. However, as a clean system is geometrically punctured, it is natural to ask the fate of an…
Delays associated with elementary interaction processes are investigated. The case of broad resonances is discussed in the context of reaction simulations.
Certain geometric properties of submanifolds of configuration space are numerically investigated for classical lattice phi^4 models in one and two dimensions. Peculiar behaviors of the computed geometric quantities are found only in the…
We extend work done previously concerning the formation of vortices in a U(1)->1 gauge theory at a first order phase transition to the symmetry breaking SU(2)xU(1)->U(1). It is shown that the collision of bubbles, appearing at the phase…
In the canonical formalism of statistical physics, a signature of a first order phase transition for finite systems is the bimodal distribution of an order parameter. Previous thermodynamical studies of nuclear sources produced in heavy-ion…
In these lectures we review the constraints on particle physics models arising from cosmic defects. This includes constraints on theories where stable cosmic string loops, or vortons result. These can arise in supersymmetric theories. We…
We study singularities in the large deviation function of the time-averaged current of diffusive systems connected to two reservoirs. A set of conditions for the occurrence of phase transitions, both first and second order, are obtained by…
These notes are an expanded version of an introductory lecture on contact geometry given at the 2001 Georgia Topology Conference. They are intended to present some of the "topological" aspects of three dimensional contact geometry.
Topological defects are distinctive signatures of liquid crystals. They profoundly affect the viscoelastic behavior of the fluid by constraining the orientational structure in a way that inevitably requires global changes not achievable…
Critical transitions, or large changes in the state of a system after a small change in the system's external conditions or parameters, commonly occur in a wide variety of disciplines, from the biological and social sciences to physics.…
A phase separation in a spatially heterogeneous environment is closely related to intracellular science and material science. For the phase separation, initial heterogeneous perturbations play an important role in pattern formations. In…
Topological defects are found in a variety of systems, and their existence are robust under perturbations due to their topological nature. Here we introduce a new type of topological defects found in electromagnetic waves: topological spin…
We study the evolution of the dynamics across a generic first order quantum phase transition in an interacting boson model of nuclei. The dynamics inside the phase coexistence region exhibits a very simple pattern. A classical analysis…
There are two prominent applications of the mathematical concept of topology to the physics of materials: band topology, which classifies different topological insulators and semimetals, and topological defects that represent immutable…
Physical processes related to cosmological first-order phase transitions are discussed and reviewed in this introductory part of dissertation. I first describe cosmological phase transitions on a general level, concentrating on bubble…
We use laser-cooled ion Coulomb crystals in the well-controlled environment of a harmonic radiofrequency ion trap to investigate phase transitions and defect formation. Topological defects in ion Coulomb crystals (kinks) have been recently…
Topological defects may play the role of the curvatons. We propose a new mechanism of generating density perturbations from cosmological defects in inflationary models. We show several examples in which defects play crucial role in…
We consider various two-leg ladder models exhibiting gapped phases. All of these phases have short-ranged valence bond ground states, and they all exhibit string order. However, we show that short-ranged valence bond ground states divide…
The order from quantum disorder (OFQD) phenomenon was first discovered in quantum spin systems in geometric frustrated lattice. Similar phenomenon was also discovered in interacting bosonic systems or quantum spin systems with spin-orbit…
We discuss the structure of topological defects in the context of extra dimensions where the symmetry breaking terms are localized. These defects develop structure in the extra dimension which differs from the case where symmetry breaking…