Locality of spontaneous symmetry breaking and universal spacing distribution of topological defects formed across a phase transition

Authors: del Campo, Adolfo; Javier Gomez-Ruiz, Fernando; Zhang, Hai-Qing

Journal: PHYSICAL REVIEW B

Publication date: 2022/10/11

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.106.L140101

Abstract: The crossing of a continuous phase transition results in the formation of topological defects with a density predicted by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism (KZM). We characterize the spatial distribution of pointlike topological defects in the resulting nonequilibrium state and model it using a Poisson point process in arbitrary spatial dimensions with KZM density. Numerical simulations in a one-dimensional phi 4 theory unveil short-distance defect-defect corrections stemming from the kink excluded volume, while in two spatial dimensions, our model accurately describes the vortex spacing distribution in a strongly coupled superconductor indicating the suppression of defect-defect spatial correlations.