The Formation of Classical Defects After a Slow Quantum Phase Transition

Abstract

Classical defects (monopoles, vortices, etc.) are a characteristic consequence of many phase transitions of quantum fields. We show a model in which the onset of classical probability distributions, for the long-wavelength modes at early times, allows the identification of line-zeroes of the field with vortex separation. We obtain a refined version of Kibble's causal results for defect separation, but from a completely different approach. It is apparent that vortices are not created from thermal fluctuations in the Ginzburg regime.

Comments: 10 pages, RevTex file. No figures. To appear in Phys. Lett. B