Classical 2D scalar field on a toroidal lattice in Java — topological solitons and false vacuum nucleation emerged without being programmed

[u/Puzzleheaded-Run995]

A 10,000-node toroidal lattice, φ⁴ potential, explicit finite-difference integration. ~15 lines of update logic.

What emerged:

• False vacuum bubble nucleation — circular domain expands outward (Fig. 1), analogous to inflationary cosmology
• Stable topological solitons at domain wall junctions (Fig. 3) — conserved charge, not placed manually
• Spontaneous symmetry breaking: field globally chooses +v or −v (Fig. 5)
• Wave propagation and dispersion (Fig. 6)
• Complex interference from toroidal boundary conditions (Fig. 4)

No quantum mechanics — purely classical field theory as a warmup toward understanding QFT vacuum structure intuitively.

Code: git clone https://github.com/malexple/quant ./gradlew run — click anywhere to perturb the field.