EXPLORING THE KIBBLE–ZUREK MECHANISM IN A SECONDARY BIFURCATION
Abstract
We present new experimental results on the quenching dynamics of an extended thermo-convective system (a network array of approximately 100 convective oscillators) going through a secondary subcritical bifurcation. We characterize a dynamical phase transition through the nature of the domain walls (1D-fronts) that connect the basic multicellular pattern with the new oscillating one. Two different mechanisms of the relaxing dynamics at the threshold are characterized depending on the crossing rate of the quenched transition. From the analysis of fronts, we show that these mechanisms follow different correlation length scales ξ ~ μ-σ. Below a critical value μc, a slow response dynamics yields a spatiotemporal coherent front with weak coupling between oscillators. Above μc, for rapid quenches, defects are trapped at the front with a strong coupling between oscillators, similarly to the Kibble–Zurek mechanism in quenched phase transitions. These defects, pinned to the fronts, yield a strong decay of the correlation length.
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