Passages through the critical point and the process of state selection in symmetry-breaking transitions
- 1 January 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review A
- Vol. 35 (1) , 340-348
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.35.340
Abstract
We consider the problem of selection of symmetry-breaking states as the system evolves through the critical point at a rate γ in the presence of fluctuations and a small biasing interaction g. We show that due to the dynamics in the vicinity of the critical point the system becomes extremely sensitive to g as γ becomes smaller. Such sensitivity is a general phenomenon valid for a large class of symmetry-breaking transitions. Under an approximation that is valid over a wide range of conditions, we obtain analytic expressions for the branch-selection probabilities and show their validity by comparison with numerical simulations.Keywords
This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit:
- Elimination of fast variablesPhysics Reports, 1985
- Weak neutral currents and the origin of biomolecular chiralityNature, 1985
- Periodic Spinodal Decomposition: Light Scattering in the Phase-Separating and Disordered RegimesPhysical Review Letters, 1985
- Dynamic effects in optical bistabilityPhilosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, 1984
- Observation of Periodic Spinodal DecompositionPhysical Review Letters, 1983
- The thermodynamics of computation—a reviewInternational Journal of Theoretical Physics, 1982
- β Decay and the origins of biological chirality: experimental resultsNature, 1982
- Periodic Spinodal Decomposition in Solid and Fluid Binary MixturesPhysical Review Letters, 1982
- Minimal Energy Dissipation and Maximal Error for the Computational ProcessJournal of Applied Physics, 1971
- Stochastic Problems in Physics and AstronomyReviews of Modern Physics, 1943