Laboratory simulation of cosmic string formation in the early Universe using superfluid 3He

Bäuerle, Christopher; Bunkov, Yu. M.; Fisher, S. N.; Godfrin, H.; Pickett, G. R.

doi:10.1038/382332a0

Cited by 515 publications

(415 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…6,7 Later, the corresponding experiments were carried out using the second-order superfluid phase-transitions of liquid 4 He 8 and liquid 3 He. 9,10 All these experiments produced defect densities reported as being consistent with Zurek's estimates. [3][4][5] In this paper we describe an improved version of the 4 He experiment 8 in which particular care has been taken to minimise the production of topological defects (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 76%

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Dodd

Hendry

Lawson

et al. 1999

Journal of Low Temperature Physics

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Untitled

Dodd

Hendry

Lawson

et al. 1999

Journal of Low Temperature Physics

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“…[47] This so-called Kibble-Zurek mechanism was later supported by experiments in superfluid 3 He, see [48][49] and references therein. In this work, however, in view of the preceding discussion the vorticity is more likely acquired during the flow of normal fluid helium through the nozzle channel.…”

Section: Formation Of Rotating Droplets In the Free Jetmentioning

confidence: 84%

Shapes of rotating superfluid helium nanodroplets

et al. 2017

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Rotating superfluid He droplets of approximately 1 μm in diameter were obtained in a free nozzle beam expansion of liquid He in vacuum and were studied by single-shot coherent diffractive imaging using an x-ray free electron laser. The formation of strongly deformed droplets is evidenced by large anisotropies and intensity anomalies (streaks) in the obtained diffraction images. The analysis of the images shows that, in addition to previously described axially symmetric oblate shapes, some droplets exhibit prolate shapes. Forward modeling of the diffraction images indicates that the shapes of rotating superfluid droplets are very similar to their classical counterparts, giving direct access to the droplet angular momenta and angular velocities. The analyses of the radial intensity distribution and appearance statistics of the anisotropic images confirm the existence of oblate metastable superfluid droplets with large angular momenta beyond the classical bifurcation threshold.3

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“…As an exception Skyrme's model succeeded to describe nuclear particles as localized states, so-called 'skyrmions', within a non-linear field theory [2]. Skyrmions are a characteristic of non-linear continuum models ranging from microscopic to cosmological scales [3,4,5,6]. Skyrmionic states have been found under non-equilibrium conditions, or when stabilised by external fields or the proliferation of topological defects.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Spontaneous skyrmion ground states in magnetic metals

Rößler

Bogdanov

Pfleiderer

2006

Nature

1,850

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1Since the 1950s Heisenberg and others have attempted to explain the appearance of countable particles in quantum field theory in terms of stable localized field configurations [1]. As an exception Skyrme's model succeeded to describe nuclear particles as localized states, so-called 'skyrmions', within a non-linear field theory [2]. Skyrmions are a characteristic of non-linear continuum models ranging from microscopic to cosmological scales [3,4,5,6]. Skyrmionic states have been found under non-equilibrium conditions, or when stabilised by external fields or the proliferation of topological defects. Examples are Turing patterns in classical liquids [7], spin textures in quantum Hall magnets [8], or the blue phases in liquid crystals [9], respectively. However, it is believed that skyrmions cannot form spontaneous ground states like ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic order in magnetic materials. Here, we show theoretically that this assumption is wrong and that skyrmion textures may form spontaneously in condensed matter systems with chiral interactions without the assistance of external fields or the proliferation of defects. We show this within a phenomenological continuum model, that is based on a few material-specific parameters that may be determined from experiment. As a new condition not considered before, we allow for softened amplitude variations of the magnetisation -a key property of, for instance, metallic magnets. Our model implies that spontaneous skyrmion lattice ground states may exist quite generally in a large number of materials, notably at surfaces and in thin films as well as in bulk compounds, where a lack of space inversion symmetry leads to chiral interactions.The possibility that particle-like states may form spontaneously in continuous fields has motivated intense theoretical efforts in the past. Derrick and Hobart established by rather general arguments that particle-like configurations are not stable in the majority of nonlinear field models [10,11]. However, a few exceptions have been found. Skyrme showed that particle-like excitations of continuous fields exist in the presence of certain non-linear interactions [2]. As a drawback, the interactions considered by Skyrme are physically not transparent, because they involve higher order derivative terms that are technically intractable. Therefore, Skyrme's approach is not viable in the context of ordered states in condensed matter that are ruled by short range interactions. In contrast, a physically transparent exception to the Derrick-Hobart theorem has been recognized in systems with bro-2 ken inversion symmetry, where chiral interactions lead to skyrmion excitations in condensed matter systems [12,14,16]. Chiral interactions exist in many different systems, e.g., (i) spin-orbit interactions in non-centrosymmetric materials, also referred to as DzyaloshinskyMoriya (DM) interactions [13], (ii) in non-centrosymmetric ferroelectrics, (iii) for certain structural phase transitions, (iv) in chiral liquid crystals, and (v) in the form of Che...

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Laboratory simulation of cosmic string formation in the early Universe using superfluid 3He

Cited by 515 publications

References 8 publications

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Shapes of rotating superfluid helium nanodroplets

Spontaneous skyrmion ground states in magnetic metals

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