Cosmological scenario for A-B phase transition in superfluid 3He

During a very rapid superfluid transition in He-3 following a reaction with a single neutron, the creation of topological defects (vortices) has been recently demonstrated to be in accordance with the Kibble-Zurek scenario for the cosmological analog. We discuss here the extension of the Kibble-Zurek scenario to the case when alternative symmetries may be broken and different states nucleated independently. We have calculated the nucleation probability of the various states of superfluid He-3 during a superfluid transition. Our results can explain the transition from the supercooled A phase to the B phase triggered by a nuclear reaction. The new scenario is an alternative to the well-known "baked Alaska" scenario.