Phase transition in space: how far does a symmetry bend before it breaks?

DOI10.1098/RSTA.2008.0069zbMATH Open1153.82333arXiv0807.3516OpenAlexW3098838838WikidataQ51876411 ScholiaQ51876411MaRDI QIDQ5504037FDOQ5504037

Authors: Wojciech Hubert Zurek, Uwe Dorner 

Publication date: 21 January 2009

Published in: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We extend the theory of symmetry breaking dynamics in non-equilibrium second order phase transitions known as the Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM) to transitions where the change of phase occurs not in time, but in space. This can be due to a time-independent spatial variation of a field that imposes a phase with one symmetry to the left of where it attains critical value, while allowing spontaneous symmetry breaking to the right of that critical borderline. Topological defects need not form in such a situation. We show, however, that the size, in space, of the ``scar over which the order parameter adjusts as it ``bends interpolating between the phases with different symmetry follows from a KZM - like approach. As we illustrate on the example of a transverse quantum Ising model, in quantum phase transitions this spatial scale -- the size of the scar -- is directly reflected in the energy spectrum of the system: In particular, it determines the size of the energy gap.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0807.3516

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zbMATH Keywords

phase transitionsquantum phase transitionstopological excitationsavoided level crossingLandau-Zener tunnelling

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Dynamic and nonequilibrium phase transitions (general) in statistical mechanics (82C26) Statistical mechanics of superconductors (82D55) Quantum field theory; related classical field theories (81T99)

Cited In (5)

• BOGOLIUBOV'S VISION: QUASIAVERAGES AND BROKEN SYMMETRY TO QUANTUM PROTECTORATE AND EMERGENCE
• Defect production in quench from a current-carrying non-equilibrium state
• Dynamics of longitudinal magnetization in transverse-field quantum Ising model: from symmetry-breaking gap to Kibble-Zurek mechanism
• Coherent and dissipative dynamics at quantum phase transitions
• Spatial Kibble-Zurek mechanism through susceptibilities: the inhomogeneous quantum Ising model case

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