Oscillons in Scalar Field Theories: Applications in Higher Dimensions and Inflation

The basic properties of oscillons -- localized, long-lived, time-dependent scalar field configurations -- are briefly reviewed, including recent results demonstrating how their existence depends on the dimensionality of spacetime. Their role on the dynamics of phase transitions is discussed, and it is shown that oscillons may greatly accelerate the decay of metastable vacuum states. This mechanism for vacuum decay -- resonant nucleation -- is then applied to cosmological inflation. A new inflationary model is proposed which terminates with fast bubble nucleation.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Topological quantum numbers and curvature -- examples and applications

Using the idea of the degree of a smooth mapping between two manifolds of the same dimension we present here the topological (homotopical) classification of the mappings between spheres of the same dimension, vector fields, monopole and instanton solutions. Starting with a review of the elements of Riemannian geometry we also present an original elementary proof of the Gauss-Bonnet theorem and the Poincar\'{e}-Hopf theorem.Comment: LaTeX2e, 26 pages, 4 figure

A Class of Nonperturbative Configurations in Abelian-Higgs Models: Complexity from Dynamical Symmetry Breaking

We present a numerical investigation of the dynamics of symmetry breaking in both Abelian and non-Abelian $[S U (2)]$ Higgs models in three spatial dimensions. We find a class of time-dependent, long-lived nonperturbative field configurations within the range of parameters corresponding to type-1 superconductors, that is, with vector masses ($m_v$) larger than scalar masses ($m_s$). We argue that these emergent nontopological configurations are related to oscillons found previously in other contexts. For the Abelian-Higgs model, our lattice implementation allows us to map the range of parameter space -- the values of $\beta = (m_s /m_v)^2$ -- where such configurations exist and to follow them for times t \sim \O(10^5) m^{-1}. An investigation of their properties for $\hat z$-symmetric models reveals an enormously rich structure of resonances and mode-mode oscillations reminiscent of excited atomic states. For the SU(2) case, we present preliminary results indicating the presence of similar oscillonic configurations.Comment: 21 pages, 19 figures, prd, revte

On certain classes of solutions of the Weierstrass-Enneper system inducing constant mean curvature surfaces

Analysis of the generalized Weierstrass-Enneper system includes the estimation of the degree of indeterminancy of the general analytic solution and the discussion of the boundary value problem. Several different procedures for constructing certain classes of solutions to this system, including potential, harmonic and separable types of solutions, are proposed. A technique for reduction of the Weierstrass-Enneper system to decoupled linear equations, by subjecting it to certain differential constraints, is presented as well. New elementary and doubly periodic solutions are found, among them kinks, bumps and multi-soliton solutions

Information Content of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking

We propose a measure of order in the context of nonequilibrium field theory and argue that this measure, which we call relative configurational entropy (RCE), may be used to quantify the emergence of coherent low-entropy configurations, such as time-dependent or time-independent topological and nontopological spatially-extended structures. As an illustration, we investigate the nonequilibrium dynamics of spontaneous symmetry-breaking in three spatial dimensions. In particular, we focus on a model where a real scalar field, prepared initially in a symmetric thermal state, is quenched to a broken-symmetric state. For a certain range of initial temperatures, spatially-localized, long-lived structures known as oscillons emerge in synchrony and remain until the field reaches equilibrium again. We show that the RCE correlates with the number-density of oscillons, thus offering a quantitative measure of the emergence of nonperturbative spatiotemporal patterns that can be generalized to a variety of physical systems.Comment: LaTeX, 9 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Quantum kink and its excitations

We show how detailed properties of a kink in quantum field theory can be extracted from field correlation functions. This makes it possible to study quantum kinks in a fully non-perturbative way using Monte Carlo simulations. We demonstrate this by calculating the kink mass as well as the spectrum and approximate wave functions of its excitations. This way of measuring the kink mass has clear advantages over the existing approaches based on creation and annihilation operators or the kink free energy. Our methods are straightforward to generalise to more realistic theories and other defect types.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, v2: typos corrected, references adde