Numerical simulations of two dimensional magnetic domain patterns

I show that a model for the interaction of magnetic domains that includes a short range ferromagnetic and a long range dipolar anti-ferromagnetic interaction reproduces very well many characteristic features of two-dimensional magnetic domain patterns. In particular bubble and stripe phases are obtained, along with polygonal and labyrinthine morphologies. In addition, two puzzling phenomena, namely the so called memory effect' and the topological melting’ observed experimentally are also qualitatively described. Very similar phenomenology is found in the case in which the model is changed to be represented by the Swift-Hohenberg equation driven by an external orienting field.