Phase ordering dynamics of cosmological models.

The ordering dynamics of the Higgs field is studied, using techniques inspired by the study of phase ordering in condensed matter physics, as a first step to understanding the evolution of cosmic structure through the formation of topological defects in the early universe. The common feature of these different physical processes is scaling. A fully analytical approximate scheme − the linear-gaussian approach − is proposed to evaluate 1-point, 2-point, etc. scaling functions for the ordering dynamics of the O(n)-symmetric Higgs-field models. PACS: 64.60.Cn, 64.60.My, 98.80.Cq Present address: BioSS, The University of Edinburgh, James Clerk Maxwell Building, The King’s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, United Kingdom