Density of Kinks after a Quench: When Symmetry Breaks, How Big are the Pieces?

Numerical study of order parameter evolution in the course of symmetry breaking transitions with Landau-Ginzburg--like dynamics shows that the density of topological defects, kinks which form during the quench, is proportional to the fourth root of its rate. This is a limited (1D) test of the more general theory of domain-size evolution in the course of symmetry breaking transformations proposed by one of us. Using these ideas, it is possible to compute the density of topological defects from the quench time scale and from the equilibrium scaling of the correlation length and relaxation time near the critical point.