Classicality of the order parameter during a phase transition

Abstract

We analyze the quantum to classical transition of the order parameter in second order phase transitions. We consider several toy models in non relativistic quantum mechanics. We study the dynamical evolution of a wave packet initially peaked around a local maximum of the potential using variational approximations and also exact numerical results. The influence of the environment on the evolution of the density matrix and the Wigner function is analyzed in great detail. We also discuss the relevance of our results to the analysis of phase transitions in field theory. In particular, we argue that previous results about classicality of the order parameter in O(N) models may be consequences of the large $N$ approximation.

RevTex file, 15 pages, 19 ps figures. Minor changes, to appear in Physical Review D

References in corpus (1)

• Non-equilibrium phase transitions in condensed matter and cosmology: spinodal decomposition, condensates and defects

Cited by in corpus (24)

• Decoherence during Inflation: the generation of classical inhomogeneities
• Inflationary Perturbations: the Cosmological Schwinger Effect
• Coarse-Grained Effective Action and Renormalization Group Theory in Semiclassical Gravity and Cosmology
• Decoherence from Isocurvature Perturbations in Inflation
• Decoherence induced by zero point fluctuations in quantum Brownian motion
• Decoherence in Field Theory: General Couplings and Slow Quenches
• Decoherence, tunneling and noise-activation in a double-potential well at high and zero temperature
• Classical behaviour after a phase transition
• From quantum to classical instability in relativistic stars
• Emergence of Classicality in Quantum Phase Transitions
• Macroscopic quantum phenomena from the large N perspective
• Quantum effects after decoherence in a quenched phase transition
• Quantum Dynamics of the Slow Rollover Transition in the Linear Delta Expansion
• A new approximation method for time-dependent problems in quantum mechanics
• Decoherence of domains and defects at phase transitions
• Decoherence induced by a composite environment
• The Formation of Classical Defects After a Slow Quantum Phase Transition
• The Effects of Multiplicative Noise in Relativistic Phase Transitions
• Quantum Evolution Leading to Classicality: A Concrete Example
• Multiple-Scale Analysis and Renormalization of Quenched Second Order Phase Transitions
• A Grand Canonical Ensemble Approach to the Thermodynamic Properties of the Nucleon in the Quark-Gluon Coupling Model
• How Phase Transitions induce classical behaviour
• Macroscopic tunneling, decoherence and noise-induced activation
• Decoherence in composite quantum open systems: the effectiveness of unstable degrees of freedom