493 research outputs found
Composite defect extends cosmology - 3He analogy
Spin-mass vortices have been observed to form in rotating superfluid 3He-B
following the absorption of a thermal neutron and a rapid transition from the
normal to superfluid state. The spin-mass vortex is a composite defect which
consists of a planar soliton (wall) which terminates on a linear core (string).
This observation fits well within the framework of a cosmological scenario for
defect formation, known as the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. It suggests that in the
early Universe analogous cosmological defects might have formed.Comment: RevTeX file, 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett.,
modified according to referee repor
Nucleation of vortices by rapid thermal quench
We show that vortex nucleation in superfluid He by rapid thermal quench
in the presence of superflow is dominated by a transverse instability of the
moving normal-superfluid interface. Exact expressions for the instability
threshold as a function of supercurrent density and the front velocity are
found. The results are verified by numerical solution of the Ginzburg-Landau
equation.Comment: 4 Pages, 4 Figure, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
``Cosmological'' scenario for A-B phase transition in superfluid 3He
At a very rapid superfluid transition in He, follows after a reaction
with single neutron, the creation of topological defects (vortices) has
recently been demonstrated in accordance with the Kibble-Zurek scenario for the
cosmological analogue. We discuss here the extension of the Kibble-Zurek
scenario to the case when alternative symmetries may be broken and different
states nucleated independently. We have calculated the nucleation probability
of the various states of superfluid He during a superfluid transition. Our
results can explain the transition from supercooled phase to the phase,
triggered by nuclear reaction. The new scenario is an alternative to the
well-known ``baked Alaska'' scenario.Comment: RevTex file, 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Defect Formation in Quench-Cooled Superfluid Phase Transition
We use neutron absorption in rotating 3He-B to heat locally a 10
micrometer-size volume into normal phase. When the heated region cools back in
microseconds, vortex lines are formed. We record with NMR the number of lines
as a function of superflow velocity and compare to the Kibble-Zurek theory of
vortex-loop freeze-out from a random network of defects. The measurements
confirm the calculated loop-size distribution and show that also the superfluid
state itself forms as a patchwork of competing A and B phase blobs. This
explains the A to B transition in supercooled neutron-irradiated 3He-A.Comment: RevTex file, 4 pages, 3 figures, resubmitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Defect formation and local gauge invariance
We propose a new mechanism for formation of topological defects in a U(1)
model with a local gauge symmetry. This mechanism leads to definite
predictions, which are qualitatively different from those of the Kibble-Zurek
mechanism of global theories. We confirm these predictions in numerical
simulations, and they can also be tested in superconductor experiments. We
believe that the mechanism generalizes to more complicated theories.Comment: REVTeX, 4 pages, 2 figures. The explicit form of the Hamiltonian and
the equations of motion added. To appear in PRL (http://prl.aps.org/
Transition to superfluid turbulence governed by an intrinsic parameter
Hydrodynamic flow in both classical and quantum fluids can be either laminar
or turbulent. To describe the latter, vortices in turbulent flow are modelled
with stable vortex filaments. While this is an idealization in classical
fluids, vortices are real topologically stable quantized objects in
superfluids. Thus superfluid turbulence is thought to hold the key to new
understanding on turbulence in general. The fermion superfluid 3He offers
further possibilities owing to a large variation in its hydrodynamic
characteristics over the experimentally accessible temperatures. While studying
the hydrodynamics of the B phase of superfluid 3He, we discovered a sharp
transition at 0.60Tc between two regimes, with regular behaviour at
high-temperatures and turbulence at low-temperatures. Unlike in classical
fluids, this transition is insensitive to velocity and occurs at a temperature
where the dissipative vortex damping drops below a critical limit. This
discovery resolves the conflict between existing high- and low-temperature
measurements in 3He-B: At high temperatures in rotating flow a vortex loop
injected into superflow has been observed to expand monotonically to a single
rectilinear vortex line, while at very low temperatures a tangled network of
quantized vortex lines can be generated in a quiescent bath with a vibrating
wire. The solution of this conflict reveals a new intrinsic criterion for the
existence of superfluid turbulence.Comment: Revtex file; 5 pages, 2 figure
Vortex avalanches and the onset of superfluid turbulence
Quantized circulation, absence of Galilean invariance due to a clamped normal
component, and the vortex mutual friction are the major factors that make
superfluid turbulence behave in a way different from that in classical fluids.
The model is developed for the onset of superfluid turbulence that describes
the initial avalanche-like multiplication of vortices into a turbulent vortex
tangle.Comment: 4 page
The formation of vortex loops (strings) in continuous phase transitions
The formation of vortex loops (global cosmic strings) in an O(2) linear sigma
model in three spatial dimensions is analyzed numerically. For over-damped
Langevin dynamics we find that defect production is suppressed by an
interaction between correlated domains that reduces the effective spatial
variation of the phase of the order field. The degree of suppression is
sensitive to the quench rate. A detailed description of the numerical methods
used to analyze the model is also reported.Comment: LaTeX, 17 pages, 6 eps figures 2 references and a footnote adde
Density of kinks just after a quench in an overdamped system
A quench in an overdamped one dimensional model is studied by
analytical and numerical methods. For an infinite system or a finite system
with free boundary conditions, the density of kinks after the transition is
proportional to the eighth root of the rate of the quench. For a system with
periodic boundary conditions, it is proportional to the fourth root of the
rate. The critical exponent predicted in Zurek scenario is put in question.Comment: 4 pages in RevTex + 1 .ps fil
Slow Quenches Produce Fuzzy, Transient Vortices
We examine the Zurek scenario for the production of vortices in quenches of
liquid in the light of recent experiments. Extending our previous
results to later times, we argue that short wavelength thermal fluctuations
make vortices poorly defined until after the transition has occurred. Further,
if and when vortices appear, it is plausible that that they will decay faster
than anticipated from turbulence experiments, irrespective of quench rates.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex file, no figures Apart from a more appropriate title,
this paper differs from its predecessor by including temperature, as well as
pressure, quenche
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