Composite Defect Extends Analogy between Cosmology and 3He
Abstract
Spin-mass vortices have been observed to form in rotating superfluid 3He-B, following the absorption of a thermal neutron and a rapid transition from the normal to the superfluid state. The spin-mass vortex is a composite defect which consists of a planar soliton (wall) which terminates on a linear core (string). This observation fits well within the framework of a cosmological scenario for defect formation, known as the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. It suggests that in the early Universe analogous cosmological defects might have formed.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- November 2000
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.4739
- arXiv:
- arXiv:cond-mat/0007369
- Bibcode:
- 2000PhRvL..85.4739E
- Keywords:
-
- Condensed Matter;
- General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology;
- High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
- E-Print:
- RevTeX file, 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett., modified according to referee report