Deconstructing symmetry breaking dynamics

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Hauptverfasser: Suzuki, Fumika, Zurek, Wojciech H.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Suzuki, Fumika
Zurek, Wojciech H.
author_facet Suzuki, Fumika
Zurek, Wojciech H.
contents The Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) successfully predicts the density of topological defects deposited by the phase transitions, but it is not clear why. Its key conjecture is that, near the critical point of the second-order phase transition, critical slowing down will result in a period when the system is too sluggish to follow the potential that is changing faster than its reaction time. The correlation length at the freeze-out instant $\hat t$ when the order parameter catches up with the post-transition broken symmetry configuration is then decisive, determining when the mosaic of broken symmetry domains locks in topological defects. To understand why the KZM works so well we analyze Landau-Ginzburg model and show why temporal evolution of the order parameter plays such a key role. The analytical solutions we obtain suggest novel, hitherto unexplored, experimentally accessible observables that can shed light on symmetry breaking dynamics while testing the conjecture on which the KZM is based.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_22583
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Deconstructing symmetry breaking dynamics
Suzuki, Fumika
Zurek, Wojciech H.
Statistical Mechanics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Quantum Physics
The Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) successfully predicts the density of topological defects deposited by the phase transitions, but it is not clear why. Its key conjecture is that, near the critical point of the second-order phase transition, critical slowing down will result in a period when the system is too sluggish to follow the potential that is changing faster than its reaction time. The correlation length at the freeze-out instant $\hat t$ when the order parameter catches up with the post-transition broken symmetry configuration is then decisive, determining when the mosaic of broken symmetry domains locks in topological defects. To understand why the KZM works so well we analyze Landau-Ginzburg model and show why temporal evolution of the order parameter plays such a key role. The analytical solutions we obtain suggest novel, hitherto unexplored, experimentally accessible observables that can shed light on symmetry breaking dynamics while testing the conjecture on which the KZM is based.
title Deconstructing symmetry breaking dynamics
topic Statistical Mechanics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
High Energy Physics - Theory
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.22583