Kibble-Zurek mechanism in a quenched ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensate

Abstract

The spin vortices are shown to be created through the Kibble-Zurek (KZ) mechanism in a quantum phase transition of a spin-1 ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensate, when the applied magnetic field is quenched below a critical value. It is shown that the magnetic correlation functions have finite correlation lengths, and magnetizations at widely separated positions grow in random directions, resulting in spin vortices. We numerically confirm the scaling law that the winding number of spin vortices is proportional to the square root of the length of the closed path, and for slow quench, proportional to ${\tau }_{\mathrm{Q}}^{-1/6}$ with ${\tau }_{\mathrm{Q}}$ being the quench time. The relation between the spin conservation and the KZ mechanism is discussed.

11 pages, 7 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Spontaneous symmetry breaking in a quenched ferromagnetic spinor Bose condensate
• Quantum quenches in a spinor condensate
• Dynamics of a quantum phase transition in a ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensate
• Vortex quantum creation and winding number scaling in a quenched spinor Bose gas
• Broken axisymmetry phase of a spin-1 ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensate
• Topological defect formation in quenched ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensates

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Phase Transition in Space: How Far Does a Symmetry Bend Before It Breaks?
• Quantum Noise, Scaling and Domain Formation in a Spinor BEC
• How to fix a broken symmetry: Quantum dynamics of symmetry restoration in a ferromagnetic Bose-Einstein condensate
• Anisotropic Instabilities in Trapped Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensates