| Issue |
Europhys. Lett.
Volume 62, Number 3, May 2003
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 363 - 369 | |
| Section | Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/epl/i2003-00405-1 | |
| Published online | 01 April 2003 | |
The kink-counting problem: Equilibrium densities and nucleation rates
1
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di
Perugia - I-06123 Perugia, Italy
2
Frontier Research System, RIKEN - Wako, Saitama 351-0198,
Japan
3
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica della Materia,
Università di Camerino I-62032 Camerino, Italy
Received:
28
October
2002
Accepted:
25
February
2003
The longstanding problem of thermal pair nucleation in the
presence of global reflection symmetry (viz. no
external biases) is investigated numerically for a 
classical string coupled to a viscous heat bath. Our numerics
agree within a few percent with the theoretical estimates for the
low-temperature kink (antikink) density; as a result,
finite-temperature corrections could be assessed quantitatively.
More importantly, the relevant pair nucleation rates, too, have
been computed numerically, thus confirming the predictions of the
kinetic model: Local symmetry breaking by pre-existing
kinks (antikinks) assists the nucleation of new kink-antikink
pairs in the stationary regime and determines their lifetime.
PACS: 61.72.-y – Defects and impurities in crystals; microstructure / 05.45.Yv – Solitons / 05.40.-a – Fluctuation phenomena, random processes, noise, and Brownian motion
© EDP Sciences, 2003
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