THE ONSET OF PHASE TRANSITIONS IN CONDENSED MATTER AND RELATIVISTIC QFT

Abstract

Kibble and Zurek have provided a unifying picture for the onset of phase transitions in relativistic QFT and condensed matter systems respectively, strongly supported by agreement with condensed matter experiments in He3. The failure of a recent experiment on He4 to agree with the predictions has prompted a reappraisal of this picture. We provide an alternative picture that explains the experimental evidence.