The Cosmological Kibble Mechanism in the Laboratory: String Formation in Liquid Crystals
Abstract
The production of strings (disclination lines and loops) has been observed by means of the Kibble mechanism of domain (bubble) formation in the isotropic-nematic phase transition of the uniaxial nematic liquid crystal 4-cyano-4'-n-pentylbiphenyl. The number of strings formed per bubble is about 0.6. This value is in reasonable agreement with a numerical simulation of the experiment in which the Kibble mechanism is used for the order parameter space of a uniaxial nematic liquid crystal.
- Publication:
-
Science
- Pub Date:
- February 1994
- DOI:
- 10.1126/science.263.5149.943
- arXiv:
- arXiv:hep-ph/9208233
- Bibcode:
- 1994Sci...263..943B
- Keywords:
-
- High Energy Physics - Phenomenology;
- Condensed Matter;
- High Energy Physics - Theory
- E-Print:
- 17 pages, in TEX, 2 figures (not included, available on request)