Cosmic Strings Meet Multerroics: Understanding topological defects in spontaneous symmetry breaking phase transitions

Jumping from the expanse of galactic scales to land in the laboratory might seem a gargantuan task. Common to both, however, is the the concept of symmetry breaking and in particular the formation of topological defects. Here I discuss the formation of topological defects in multiferroic YMnO3 whose ferroelectric behavior enables the direct imaging of these defects. I also show how this material can be used to study the Kibble-Zurek model of topological defect formation in the early universe and give quantitative insights on the number of domains formed during the spontaneous symmetry breaking phase transition.