Quench dynamics of a spinor condensate with strong spin-dependent interactions

Spinor condensates exhibit a rich phase diagram of magnetically ordered phases arising from the interplay between spin-dependent interactions and superfluidity. The spinor condensates studied to date ($^{\mathrm{87}}$Rb and $^{\mathrm{23}}$Na) exhibit weak spin-dependent interactions with little coupling between the spin (magnon) excitations and the mass (phonon) excitations. In contrast, the F$=$1 spinor condensates of $^{\mathrm{7}}$Li exhibit commensurate strengths of spin-dependent and spin-independent interactions, leading to qualitative changes in the equilibrium phases and spinor dynamics. We describe the quench dynamics of a $^{\mathrm{7}}$Li spinor gas between a spin nematic and ferromagnetic phase, discuss the emergent ferromagnetic spin texture and topological defects in accordance with the Kibble-Zurek mechanism and contrast this behavior with that observed in weakly interacting spinor condensates such as $^{\mathrm{87}}$Rb.