Lessons from topological superfluids: Safe and dangerous routes to antispacetime

¹ Low Temperature Laboratory, Aalto University, P.O. Box 15100, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland
² Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, acad. Semyonov av., 1a, 142432, Chernogolovka, Russia

Abstract

All realistic second order phase transitions are undergone at finite transition rate and are therefore non-adiabatic. In symmetry-breaking phase transitions the non-adiabatic processes, as predicted by Kibble and Zurek [1, 2], lead to the formation of topological defects (the so-called Kibble-Zurek mechanism). The exact nature of the resultingdefects depends on the detailed symmetry-breaking pattern.