Ordering Dynamics of Topological Defect Networks.pdfVIP

SUSX-TH-97-024 hep-ph/9712490 Ordering Dynamics of Topological Defect Networks ∗ 7 Mark Hindmarsh 9 9 Centre for Theoretical Physics 1 University of Sussex c Brighton BN1 9QJ e D U.K. 2 2 1 v 0 9 4 2 Abstract 1 I report on some work in progress on the dynamics of extended objects 7 9 in field theories after a rapid phase transition, as is relevant in the early / Universe. An analytic technique, originally introduced to approximate the h dynamics of topological defects in condensed matter systems, is extended p - to cover relativistic objects. An exact formula for the area density of p domain walls in D dimensions is derived. e h The realisation that spontaneous symmetry breaking in field theories might : v actually be a dynamic phenomenon in the early Universe brought with it the i X possibility that topological defects were formed in the initial stages of the Big r Bang [5]. The study of the formation and evolution of topological defects there- a fore has great implications for particle physics and cosmology, as well as being of interest in itself as a difficult problem in the non-linear dynamics of fields. The fundamental picture that h