Microscopic dynamics of disoriented chiral condensate formation

The dynamics of the pion field after a quench is studied in the framework of the linear sigma model. Our aim is to determine to what extent the amplified pion field resembles the disoriented chiral condensate (DCC) picture originally proposed in the early 1990s. We present the result of a computer experiment where, among other things, we study in detail the correlation between isospin orientations of the distinct modes of the field. We show that this correlation is absent. In a sense, the distinct modes behave as distinct DCCs. The implications of this observation are discussed.