Abstract
These lectures will review symmetry-breaking phase transitions and the formation of topological defects, primarily in the context of cosmology but also with reference to condensed matter. The idea that early in its history the Universe went through a series of phase transitions will be discussed. Following a discussion of the basic ideas of spontaneous symmetry breaking, the classification of defects in terms of homotopy groups of the vacuum manifold will be reviewed, covering domain walls, cosmic strings or vortices, monopoles and textures and also composite objects of various kinds. The importance of the central problem of estimating the density of defects formed at a phase transition will be emphasized, with reference both to cosmology and to recent low-temperature experiments.
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Kibble, T.W.B. (2000). Classification of Topological Defects and Their Relevance to Cosmology and Elsewhere. In: Bunkov, Y.M., Godfrin, H. (eds) Topological Defects and the Non-Equilibrium Dynamics of Symmetry Breaking Phase Transitions. NATO Science Series, vol 549. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4106-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4106-2_2
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