2000/07/31 by Mark Hindmarsh, M. Hindmarsh, Arttu Rajantie +1 · 122 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Chiral symmetry #Gauge (firearms) #Gauge boson #Gauge theory #Geometry #Local symmetry #Materials science #Mathematical physics #Mathematics #Mechanism (biology) #Physics #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #Quantum chromodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Superconductivity #Symmetry (geometry) #Theoretical physics #cond-mat.supr-con #hep-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.85.4660
published in Physical Review Letters 85(22), 4660-4663 (American Physical Society) · 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/)
arxiv created 2000/10/06 · openalex publication_date 2000/11/27 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
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.