English

Quench Dynamics in Holographic First-Order Phase Transition

High Energy Physics - Theory 2024-01-09 v3 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

In this work, we investigate the real-time dynamics of quenching a state from phase separation in a holographic model of first-order phase transition. In addition to the typical phase-separated and high-energy final states, we have discovered a novel dynamical process that drives the system to a low-temperature supercooled final state within a narrow range of quench parameters. The critical behavior is also revealed during the fully non-linear dynamics. Following a sudden quench with critical parameters, the phase separation can be attracted to a critical nucleus. Specifically, the critical nucleus will subsequently shrink in size and eventually disappear for super-critical parameters, where the system is actually supercooled with a temperature lower than the initial one. While for sub-critical parameters, the nucleus will grow in size and finally reform a phase separation, where the absorbed quenching energy is reflected in the increment of the latent heat.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2211.11291,
  title  = {Quench Dynamics in Holographic First-Order Phase Transition},
  author = {Qian Chen and Yuxuan Liu and Yu Tian and Xiaoning Wu and Hongbao Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2211.11291},
  year   = {2024}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T06:20:57.994Z