Kink-boundary collisions in a two dimensional scalar field theory

Abstract

In a two-dimensional toy model, motivated from five-dimensional heterotic M-theory, we study the collision of scalar field kinks with boundaries. By numerical simulation of the full two-dimensional theory, we find that the kink is always inelastically reflected with a model-independent fraction of its kinetic energy converted into radiation. We show that the reflection can be analytically understood as a fluctuation around the scalar field vacuum. This picture suggests the possibility of spontaneous emission of kinks from the boundary due to small perturbations in the bulk. We verify this picture numerically by showing that the radiation emitted from the collision of an initial single kink eventually leads to a bulk populated by many kinks. Consequently, processes changing the boundary charges are practically unavoidable in this system. We speculate that the system has a universal final state consisting of a stack of kinks, their number being determined by the initial energy.

References in corpus (3)

• Five-Branes in Heterotic Brane-World Theories
• Moving Five-Branes in Low-Energy Heterotic M-Theory
• Kinky Brane Worlds

Cited by in corpus (9)

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• Collision of Domain Walls and Reheating of the Brane Universe
• Fermions on Colliding Branes
• Collision of two kinks with inner structure
• Particle transfer in braneworld collisions
• Dynamics of colliding branes and black brane production
• Construction of topological defect networks with complex scalar fields
• Stability of winding cosmic wall lattices with X type junctions
• The fermion spectrum in braneworld collisions