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Testing cosmological defect formation in the laboratory

T. W. B. Kibble
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Abstract

Topological defects such as cosmic strings may have been formed at early-universe phase transitions. Direct tests of this idea are impossible, but the mechanism can be elucidated by studying analogous processes in low-temperature condensed-matter systems. Experiments on vortex formation in superfluid helium and in superconductors have so far yielded somewhat confusing results. I shall discuss their possible interpretation.

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T. W. B. Kibble. 2001-11-06. Testing cosmological defect formation in the laboratory. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0921-4534(01)01225-4

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