2004/09/08 by M. Donaire, T. W. B. Kibble, Arttu Rajantie +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum many-body systems #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #astro-ph #cond-mat.supr-con #hep-lat
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/9/5/148
published as NewJ.Phys.9:148,2007 · 9 pages, 8 figures
arxiv created 2004/09/08 · openalex publication_date 2007/05/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
We carry out numerical simulations of a temperature quench in a Hamiltonian system that models a superconducting film in three-dimensional (3D) space. Theoretical arguments suggest that vortices are spontaneously formed by two separate mechanisms: the Kibble–Zurek mechanism, which is based on the dynamics of the order parameter, and the flux trapping mechanism, which is based on the dynamics of the electromagnetic field. We find that fast quenches are in agreement with the predictions of the flux trapping scenario, but the results from slow quenches appear to point to the Kibble–Zurek mechanism. Our results demonstrate the crucial role the electromagnetic field plays in this phenomenon, making it very different from vortex formation in fully 2D systems or in superfluids.