Resonant Production of Topological Defects

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new mechanism for producing topological defects, such as vortices, through resonant oscillations of a scalar field driven by temperature variations below the critical temperature, with potential experimental implications.

Contribution

It presents a novel phenomenon of defect production via resonant scalar field oscillations driven by temperature, without requiring a phase transition.

Findings

Vortices can be produced by resonant oscillations at sub-critical temperatures.

Localized rapid heating can generate vortex-antivortex pairs without crossing T_c.

The results suggest new experimental avenues for defect creation without phase transitions.

Abstract

We describe a novel phenomenon in which vortices are produced due to resonant oscillations of a scalar field which is driven by a periodically varying temperature T, with T remaining much below the critical temperature $T_c$. Also, in a rapid heating of a localized region to a temperature {\it below} $T_c$, far separated vortex and antivortex can form. We compare our results with recent models of defect production during reheating after inflation. We also discuss possible experimental tests of our predictions of topological defect production {\it without} ever going through a phase transition.