Related papers: Critical Slowing Down and Defect Formation
We study the nonequilibrium dynamics leading to the formation of topological defects in a symmetry-breaking phase transition of a quantum scalar field with \lambda\Phi^4 self-interaction in a spatially flat, radiation-dominated…
Systems passing through quantum critical points at finite rates have a finite probability of undergoing transitions between different eigenstates of the instantaneous Hamiltonian. This mechanism was proposed by Kibble as the underlying…
The Kibble mechanism plays a prominent role in the theory of the early Universe, as an explanation of the possible formation of cosmic strings. Zurek suggested the analogous effect in liquid helium under rapid cooling, and he conjectured -…
Kibble and Zurek have provided a unifying causal picture for the appearance of classical defects like cosmic strings or vortices at the onset of phase transitions in relativistic QFT and condensed matter systems respectively. In condensed…
Topological defects are thought to be left behind by the cosmological phase transitions which occur as the universe expands and cools. Similar processes can be studied in the phase transitions which take place in the laboratory:…
We present a study of the 3d O(2) non-linear $\sigma$-model on the lattice, which exhibits topological defects in the form of vortices. They tend to organize into vortex lines that bear close analogies with global cosmic strings. Therefore,…
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 Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) describes the non-equilibrium dynamics and topological defect formation in systems undergoing second-order phase transitions. KZM has found applications in fields such as cosmology and condensed matter…
We review the current issues of nonequilibrium phase transitions, in particular, in the early universe. Phase transitions cannot maintain thermal equilibrium and become nonequilibrium when the thermal relaxation time scale is greater than…
Topological defects are produced during phase transitions in the very early Universe. They arise in most unified theories of strong, weak and electromagnetic interactions. These lectures focus on the role of topological defects in…
The classical evolution equations of the Abelian Higgs model are studied at temperatures below the Ginsburg temperature of a phase transition which is assumed to be second order. It is shown that the initial thermal fluctuations provide a…
In a real system the heating is nonuniform and a second-order phase transition into a broken symmetry phase occurs by propagation of the temperature front. Two parameters, the cooling rate $\tau_Q$ and the velocity $v_T$ of the transition…
Current theories of particle physics lead to the unavoidable conclusion that there must have been several phase transitions in the early universe. Further, in the context of these theories, it is possible that cosmological phase transitions…
In the first one of these two lectures, I give an introductory review of phase transitions in finite temperature field theories. I highlight the differences between theories with global and local symmetries, and the similarities between…
We examine the formation and critical dynamics of topological defects via Kibble-Zurek mechanism in a (2+1)-dimensional quantum critical point, which is conjectured to dual to a Lifshitz geometry. Quantized magnetic fluxoids are…
In this chapter we discuss aspects of the quantum critical behavior that occurs at a quantum phase transition separating a topological phase from a conventionally ordered one. We concentrate on a family of quantum lattice models, namely…
We consider a quantum device $D$ interacting with a quantum many-body environment $R$ which features a second-order phase transition at $T=0$. Exploiting the description of the critical slowing down undergone by $R$ according to the…
When a symmetry gets spontaneously broken in a phase transition, topological defects are typically formed. The theoretical picture of how this happens in a breakdown of a global symmetry, the Kibble-Zurek mechanism, is well established and…
The experiments on verification of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism showed that topological defects are formed most efficiently in the systems of small size or low (quasi-)dimensionality, whereas in the macroscopic two- and three-dimensional…
Topological defects are ubiquitous in physics. Whenever a symmetry breaking phase transition occurs, topological defects may form. The best known examples are vortex lines in type II super conductors or in liquid Helium, and declination…