Kibble-Zurek Mechanism

Topological defect formation during a rapid symmetry-breaking quench
Defects: 0 | Phase: initializing
10
50
1.5
The Kibble-Zurek mechanism predicts that when a system is rapidly quenched through a phase transition, topological defects freeze in because causally disconnected regions choose different symmetry-breaking directions. Defect density scales as n ~ τ_Q^{-ν/(1+zν)}. Here: XY model on a 2D lattice; vortices (winding number ±1) appear as colored dots. Slower quenches allow more domains to align → fewer defects. Fast quench = many defects.