Category: Physics

Summary: Testing how anisotropic quenched disorder changes defect production during finite-rate quenches in the two-dimensional Swift-Hohenberg equation.

Pattern-forming systems often produce defects when driven through an ordering transition, but disorder can either guide coarsening or pin it. This experiment asks whether stripe-like quenched forcing in the Swift-Hohenberg equation suppresses defects at intermediate strength while restoring them again once pinning becomes too strong.

The GPU simulation compares anisotropic stripe disorder with isotropic random forcing across quench rates and disorder amplitudes. By measuring final defect density after finite-time quenches, it tests a nonmonotone interaction between Kibble-Zurek-like defect formation and quenched anisotropy.

That interaction is scientifically interesting because it separates gentle guidance of pattern orientation from strong disorder-induced arrest. The result is intended to show whether structured disorder changes defect scaling in a way that ordinary IID disorder does not.

Method: GPU-accelerated Swift-Hohenberg quenches sweeping quench rate and disorder amplitude, comparing anisotropic stripe forcing with isotropic disorder.

What is measured: Final defect density, dependence on quench rate, effect of anisotropic versus isotropic disorder, and evidence for nonmonotone pinning behavior.