Vortices in the Wake of Rapid Bose-Einstein Condensation

A second order phase transition induced by a rapid quench can inject far more topological defects into the ordered phase than would appear in equilibrium. We use quantum kinetic theory to show that this mechanism, originally postulated in the cosmological context, and analyzed so far only on the mean field classical level, should allow spontaneous generation of vortex lines in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates of simple topology, or of winding number in toroidal condensates.