UNIVERSALITY OF PHASE TRANSITION DYNAMICS: TOPOLOGICAL DEFECTS FROM SYMMETRY BREAKING | |
Zurek, Wojciech H.1  Del Campo, Adolfo1  | |
[1] Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States) | |
关键词: TOPOLOGICAL DEFECTS; PHASE TRANSITIONS; KIBBLE-ZUREK MECHANISM; SPONTANEOUS SYMMETRY BREAKING; | |
DOI : 10.2172/1120720 RP-ID : LA-UR-14-20940 PID : OSTI ID: 1120720 |
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学科分类:物理(综合) | |
美国|英语 | |
来源: SciTech Connect | |
【 摘 要 】
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 critical point). This enforces a local choice of the broken symmetry and can lead to the formation of topological defects. The Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) was developed to describe the associated nonequilibrium dynamics and to estimate the density of defects as a function of the quench rate through the transition. During recent years, several new experiments investigating formation of defects in phase transitions induced by a quench both in classical and quantum mechanical systems were carried out. At the same time, some established results were called into question. We review and analyze the Kibble-Zurek mechanism focusing in particular on this surge of activity, and suggest possible directions for further progress.
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