Abstract
In brane cosmology, the Big Bang is hypothesized to occur by the annihilation of the brane–anti-brane pair in a collision, where the branes are three-dimensional objects in a higher-dimensional Universe. Spontaneous symmetry breaking accompanied by the formation of lower-dimensional topological defects, e.g. cosmic strings, is triggered by the so-called ‘tachyon condensation’, where the existence of tachyons is attributable to the instability of the brane–anti-brane system. Here, we discuss the closest analogue of the tachyon condensation in atomic Bose–Einstein condensates. We consider annihilation of domain walls, namely branes, in strongly segregated two-component condensates, where one component is sandwiched by two domains of the other component. In this system, the process of the brane annihilation can be projected effectively as ferromagnetic ordering dynamics onto a two-dimensional space. Based on this correspondence, three-dimensional formation of vortices from a domain-wall annihilation is considered to be a kink formation due to spontaneous symmetry breaking in the two-dimensional space. We also discuss a mechanism to create a ‘vorton’ when the sandwiched component has a vortex string bridged between the branes. We hope that this study motivates experimental researches to realize this exotic phenomenon of spontaneous symmetry breaking in superfluid systems.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A. Sen, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 20, 5513–5656 (2005)
J. Polchinski, String Theory (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998). Vols. 1 and 2
G. Dvali, Q. Shafi, S. Solganik, arXiv:hep-th/0105203
D. Langlois, Prog. Theor. Phys. Suppl. 148, 181–212 (2002)
F. Quevedo, Class. Quantum Gravity 19, 5721 (2002)
L. McAllister, E. Silverstein, Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 40, 565–605 (2008)
N. Jones, H. Stoica, S.-H.H. Tye, J. High Energy Phys. 0207, 051 (2002)
S. Sarangi, S.-H.H. Tye, Phys. Lett. B 536, 185–192 (2002)
G. Dvali, A. Vilenkin, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 0403, 010 (2004)
T.W.B. Kibble, J. Phys. A 9, 1387–1398 (1976)
W.H. Zurek, Nature 317, 505–508 (1985)
W.H. Zurek, Phys. Rep. 276, 177–221 (1996)
A. Vilenkin, E.P.S. Shellard, Cosmic Strings and Other Topological Defects (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994)
P.C. Hendry, N.S. Lawson, R.A.M. Lee, P.V.E. Mcclintock, C.D.H. Williams, Nature 368, 315–317 (1994)
M.J. Bowick, L. Chandar, E.A. Schiff, A.M. Srivastava, Science 263, 943–945 (1994)
C. Bäuerle, Yu.M. Bunkov, S.N. Fisher, H. Godfrin, G.R. Pickett, Nature 382, 332–334 (1996)
V.M.H. Ruutu, V.B. Eltsov, A.J. Gill, T.W.B. Kibble, M. Krusius, Yu.G. Makhlin, B. Placais, G.E. Volovik, W. Xu, Nature 382, 334–336 (1996)
R. Carmi, E. Polturak, G. Koren, Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 4966–4969 (2000)
A. Maniv, E. Polturak, G. Koren, Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 197001 (2003)
R. Monaco, J. Mygind, M. Aaroe, R.J. Rivers, V.P. Koshelets, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 180604 (2006)
L.E. Sadler, J.M. Higbie, S.R. Leslie, M. Vengalattore, D.M. Stamper-Kurn, Nature 443, 312–315 (2006)
C.N. Weiler, T.W. Neely, D.R. Scherer, A.S. Bradley, M.J. Davis, B.P. Anderson, Nature 455, 948–951 (2008)
H. Takeuchi, K. Kasamatsu, M. Tsubota, M. Nitta, arXiv:1205.2330
H. Takeuchi, K. Kasamatsu, M. Nitta, M. Tsubota, J. Low Temp. Phys. 162, 243–249 (2011)
M. Nitta, K. Kasamatsu, M. Tsubota, H. Takeuchi, Phys. Rev. A 85, 053639 (2012)
C.J. Pethick, H. Smith, Bose-Einstein Condensation in Dilute Gases, 2nd edn. (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2008)
S.B. Papp, J.M. Pino, C.E. Wieman, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 040402 (2008)
B.P. Anderson, P.C. Haljan, C.A. Regal, D.L. Feder, L.A. Collins, C.W. Clark, E.A. Cornell, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 2926–2929 (2001)
K. Kasamatsu, H. Takeuchi, M. Nitta, M. Tsubota, J. High Energy Phys. 11, 068 (2010)
H. Takeuchi, N. Suzuki, K. Kasamatsu, H. Saito, M. Tsubota, Phys. Rev. B 81, 094517 (2010)
D.I. Bradley, S.N. Fisher, A.M. Guénault, R.P. Haley, J. Kopu, H. Martin, G.R. Pickett, J.E. Roberts, V. Tsepelin, Nat. Phys. 4, 46–49 (2008)
D.I. Bradley, S.N. Fisher, A.M. Guénault, R.P. Haley, J. Kopu, H. Martin, G.R. Pickett, J.E. Roberts, V. Tsepelin, J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 77, 111005 (2008)
R.L. Davis, E.P.S. Shellard, Phys. Lett. B 209, 485 (1988)
E. Radu, M.S. Volkov, Phys. Rep. 468, 101 (2008)
A.J. Bray, Adv. Phys. 43, 357–459 (1994)
M.R. Andrews, C.G. Townsend, H.-J. Miesner, D.S. Durfee, D.M. Kurn, W. Ketterle, Science 275, 637 (1997)
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by KAKENHI from JSPS (Grant Nos. 21340104, 21740267 and 23740198). This work was also supported by the “Topological Quantum Phenomena” (Nos. 22103003 and 23103515) Grant-in Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Takeuchi, H., Kasamatsu, K., Tsubota, M. et al. Tachyon Condensation and Brane Annihilation in Bose-Einstein Condensates: Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking in Restricted Lower-Dimensional Subspace. J Low Temp Phys 171, 443–454 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-012-0816-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-012-0816-z