4 research outputs found
Critical Dynamics of Symmetry Breaking: Quenches, Dissipation and Cosmology
Symmetry-breaking phase transitions may leave behind topological defects
\cite{Kibble} with a density dependent on the quench rate \cite{Zurek}. We
investigate the dynamics of such quenches for the one-dimensional,
Landau-Ginzburg case and show that the density of kinks, , scales
differently with the quench timescale, , depending on whether the
dynamics in the vicinity of the critical point is overdamped () or underdamped (). Either of these
cases may be relevant to the early Universe, and we derive bounds on the
initial density of topological defects in cosmological phase transitions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 Postscript figure
Stochastic slow-fast dynamics
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