The birth of defects in pattern formation: Testing of the Kibble–Zurek mechanism

S. Casado; W. González-Viñas; S. Boccaletti; P. L. Ramazza; H. Mancini

doi:10.1140/epjst/e2007-00171-2

EPJ

The birth of defects in pattern formation: Testing of the Kibble–Zurek mechanism

S. Casado¹, W. González-Viñas¹, S. Boccaletti², P. L. Ramazza² and H. Mancini¹

¹ Complex Systems Group, Dept. of Phys. and Appl. Math., Universidad de Navarra, Irunlarrea s/n, 31080 Pamplona, Spain
² CNR – Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

Abstract

The extension of the cosmological mechanism of Kibble to second order phase transitions in condensed matter systems by Zurek, can be further generalized to bifurcations of out-of-equilibrium systems in continuum media, since the argument used in the derivation of the Kibble–Zurek scaling law is general. Here we review the validity of such scaling comparing several bifurcations where the test has been checked. Also, new experimental results of a nonlinear optical system are reported.