Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2208.10487 · Physical Review Research

Generalized Higgs mechanism in long-range-interacting quantum systems

Oriana K. Diessel, Sebastian Diehl, Nicolò Defenu, Achim Rosch, Alessio Chiocchetta

Published Jul 20, 2023• 29 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The physics of long-range-interacting quantum systems is currently living through a renaissance driven by the fast progress in quantum simulators. In these systems many paradigms of statistical physics do not apply and also the universal long-wavelength physics gets substantially modified by the presence of long-ranged forces. Here we explore the low-energy excitations of several long-range-interacting quantum systems, including spin models and interacting Bose gases, in the ordered phase associated with the spontaneous breaking of U(1) and SU(2) symmetries. Instead of the expected Goldstone modes, we find three qualitatively different regimes, depending on the range of the interaction. In one of these regimes the Goldstone modes are gapped, via a generalization of the Higgs mechanism. Moreover, we show how this effect is realized in current experiments with ultracold atomic gases in optical cavities.

DOI
10.1103/physrevresearch.5.033038

Related papers

Observation of Higgs and Goldstone modes in U(1) symmetry-broken Rydberg atomic systems

Liu, Bang, Zhang, Li-Hua, Yajun Wang +13 more

Higgs and Goldstone modes manifest as fluctuations in the order parameter of system, offering insights into its phase transitions and symmetry properties. Exploring the dynamics of these collective excitations in a Rydberg atoms system advances various branches of condensed matter, particle physics, and cosmology. Here, we report an experimental signature of Higgs and Goldstone modes in a U(1) symmetry-broken Rydberg atomic gases. By constructing two probe fields to excite atoms, we observe the distinct phase and amplitude fluctuations of Rydberg atoms collective excitations under the particle-hole symmetry. Due to the van der Waals interactions between the Rydberg atoms, we detect a symmetric variance spectrum divided by the divergent regime and phase boundary, capturing the full dynamics of the additional Higgs and Goldstone modes. Studying the Higgs and Goldstone modes in Rydberg atoms allows us to explore fundamental aspects of quantum phase transitions and symmetry breaking phenomena, while leveraging the unique properties of these highly interacting systems to uncover new physics and potential applications in quantum simulation.

arXiv:2410.06047•Oct 8, 2024•1 citation

Monitoring and manipulating Higgs and Goldstone modes in a supersolid quantum gas

Julian Léonard, Andrea Morales, Philip Zupancic +2 more

Higgs and Goldstone modes are collective excitations of the amplitude and phase of an order parameter that is related to the breaking of a continuous symmetry. We directly studied these modes in a supersolid quantum gas created by coupling a Bose-Einstein condensate to two optical cavities, whose field amplitudes form the real and imaginary parts of a U(1)-symmetric order parameter. Monitoring the cavity fields in real time allowed us to observe the dynamics of the associated Higgs and Goldstone modes and revealed their amplitude and phase nature. We used a spectroscopic method to measure their frequencies, and we gave a tunable mass to the Goldstone mode by exploring the crossover between continuous and discrete symmetry. Our experiments link spectroscopic measurements to the theoretical concept of Higgs and Goldstone modes.

arXiv:1704.05803•Science•Dec 14, 2017•203 citations

Higgs and Nambu-Goldstone modes in a spin-1 X Y model with long-range interactions

Daiki Kawasaki, Ippei Danshita

We theoretically study the collective excitations in a spin-1 $XY$ model with a quadratic Zeeman term and a long-range interaction that decays algebraically with the distance. Using the quantum-field theory based on the finite-temperature Green's function formalism, we analyze properties of the Nambu-Goldstone (NG) and Higgs modes in order to analytically evaluate the damping rate of the Higgs mode in the $XY$ ferromagnetic ordered phase near the quantum phase transition to the disordered phase. When the power of the algebraic decay is 3 as in the case of dipole-dipole interactions in Rydberg-atom systems, we show that at two dimensions the excitation energy of the Higgs mode exhibits a linear dispersion whereas the dispersion of the NG mode becomes proportional to the square root of the momentum. We find that the damping of the Higgs mode is significantly suppressed by the long-range interaction. We also propose how to excite and probe the Higgs mode in Rydberg-atom experiments.

arXiv:2512.24557•Physical Review A•May 11, 2026•1 citation

Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking and Higgs Mode: Comparing Gross-Pitaevskii and Nonlinear Klein-Gordon Equations

Marco Faccioli, Luca Salasnich

We discuss the mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking and the elementary excitations for a weakly-interacting Bose gas at a finite temperature. We consider both the non-relativistic case, described by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, and the relativistic one, described by the cubic nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation. We analyze similarities and differences in the two equations and, in particular, in the phase and amplitude modes (i.e., Goldstone and Higgs modes) of the bosonic matter field. We show that the coupling between phase and amplitude modes gives rise to a single gapless Bogoliubov spectrum in the non-relativistic case. Instead, in the relativistic case the spectrum has two branches: one is gapless and the other is gapped. In the non-relativistic limit we find that the relativistic spectrum reduces to the Bogoliubov one. Finally, as an application of the above analysis, we consider the Bose-Hubbard model close to the superfluid-Mott quantum phase transition and we investigate the elementary excitations of its effective action, which contains both non-relativistic and relativistic terms.

arXiv:1803.06923•Symmetry•Mar 23, 2018•12 citations

Goldstone mode and pair-breaking excitations in atomic Fermi superfluids

Sascha Hoinka, Paul Dyke, Marcus Lingham +3 more

Bragg spectroscopy shows the evolution of gapless Goldstone modes and single-particle-like excitations in an atomic Fermi superfluid as it crosses from a Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer superfluid to the Bose–Einstein condensate regime. Spontaneous symmetry breaking is a central paradigm of elementary particle physics1, magnetism2, superfluidity3 and superconductivity4. According to Goldstone’s theorem, phase transitions that break continuous symmetries lead to the existence of gapless excitations in the long-wavelength limit5. These Goldstone modes can become the dominant low-energy excitation, showing that symmetry breaking has a profound impact on the physical properties of matter. Here, we present a comprehensive study of the elementary excitations in a homogeneous strongly interacting Fermi gas through the crossover from a Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) superfluid to a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) of molecules using two-photon Bragg spectroscopy. The spectra exhibit a discrete Goldstone mode, associated with the broken-symmetry superfluid phase, as well as pair-breaking single-particle excitations. Our techniques yield a direct determination of the superfluid pairing gap and speed of sound in close agreement with strong-coupling theories.

arXiv:1707.00406•Nature Physics•Jun 26, 2017•106 citations

Dynamics and Quantum Fluctuations of Many-body States of Interacting Ultracold Gases

Zehan Li

We explored interaction cold atoms in new quantum regimes that have no prior analogue in condensed matter materials in three related main topics. First, motivated by recent advance in orbitally tuned Feshbach resonance experiments, we analyze the ground-state phase diagram and related low-energy excitation spectra of a high partial wave interacting Bose gas. Remarkably different from what was previously known in the p-wave case, the atomic superfluid is found to be momentum-independent in the present d-wave case. What is more, we study the quantum fluctuations in the condensates of a mixture of bosonic atoms and molecules with interspecies p-wave interaction. Our analysis shows that the quantum phase of coexisting atomic and molecular condensates is unstable at the mean-field level. The quantum Lee-Huang-Yang correction to the mean-field energy provides a remarkable mechanism to self-stabilize the phase. The correlated order spontaneously breaks a rich set of global U(1) gauge, atomic spin, spatial rotation and translation, and time-reversal symmetries. Second, we study the dynamics of a non-integrable spin chain model composed of two ingredients - a nearest neighbor Ising coupling, and an infinite range XX interaction. Unlike other fast scrambling many-body systems, this model is not known to be dual to a black hole. We demonstrate that our model exhibits fast scrambling for a wide parameter regime, accompanied by a fast growth of the entanglement entropy, as well as a swift change in the magnetization. Third, to extend the study of the highly chaotic many-body model, we analyze the ground state phases of the model with a nearest neighbor XXZ interaction and an infinite range XX interaction. By employing spin-wave theory, we find that there is a large parameter regime where the continuous U(1) symmetry of this model is spontaneously broken, which is not possible in the absence of the infinite range interaction by the Mermin-Wagner theorem. Furthermore, we demonstrate that in the U(1) symmetry broken phase, the half chain entanglement entropy violates the area law logarithmically. Our work demonstrates that the interplay of short and long range interactions can lead to novel quantum phases of matter.

•May 3, 2021•0 citations
The physics of long-range-interacting quantum systems is currently living through a renaissance driven by the fast progress in quantum simulators. In these systems many paradigms of statistical physics do not apply and also the universal long-wavelength physics gets substantially modified by the presence of long-ranged forces. Here we explore the low-energy excitations of several long-range-interacting quantum systems, including spin models and interacting Bose gases, in the ordered phase associated with the spontaneous breaking of U(1) and SU(2) symmetries. Instead of the expected Goldstone modes, we find three qualitatively different regimes, depending on the range of the interaction. In one of these regimes the Goldstone modes are gapped, via a generalization of the Higgs mechanism. Moreover, we show how this effect is realized in current experiments with ultracold atomic gases in optical cavities.
Higgs and Goldstone modes manifest as fluctuations in the order parameter of system, offering insights into its phase transitions and symmetry properties. Exploring the dynamics of these collective excitations in a Rydberg atoms system advances various branches of condensed matter, particle physics, and cosmology. Here, we report an experimental signature of Higgs and Goldstone modes in a U(1) symmetry-broken Rydberg atomic gases. By constructing two probe fields to excite atoms, we observe the distinct phase and amplitude fluctuations of Rydberg atoms collective excitations under the particle-hole symmetry. Due to the van der Waals interactions between the Rydberg atoms, we detect a symmetric variance spectrum divided by the divergent regime and phase boundary, capturing the full dynamics of the additional Higgs and Goldstone modes. Studying the Higgs and Goldstone modes in Rydberg atoms allows us to explore fundamental aspects of quantum phase transitions and symmetry breaking phenomena, while leveraging the unique properties of these highly interacting systems to uncover new physics and potential applications in quantum simulation.
Higgs and Goldstone modes are collective excitations of the amplitude and phase of an order parameter that is related to the breaking of a continuous symmetry. We directly studied these modes in a supersolid quantum gas created by coupling a Bose-Einstein condensate to two optical cavities, whose field amplitudes form the real and imaginary parts of a U(1)-symmetric order parameter. Monitoring the cavity fields in real time allowed us to observe the dynamics of the associated Higgs and Goldstone modes and revealed their amplitude and phase nature. We used a spectroscopic method to measure their frequencies, and we gave a tunable mass to the Goldstone mode by exploring the crossover between continuous and discrete symmetry. Our experiments link spectroscopic measurements to the theoretical concept of Higgs and Goldstone modes.
We theoretically study the collective excitations in a spin-1 XYXYXY model with a quadratic Zeeman term and a long-range interaction that decays algebraically with the distance. Using the quantum-field theory based on the finite-temperature Green's function formalism, we analyze properties of the Nambu-Goldstone (NG) and Higgs modes in order to analytically evaluate the damping rate of the Higgs mode in the XYXYXY ferromagnetic ordered phase near the quantum phase transition to the disordered phase. When the power of the algebraic decay is 3 as in the case of dipole-dipole interactions in Rydberg-atom systems, we show that at two dimensions the excitation energy of the Higgs mode exhibits a linear dispersion whereas the dispersion of the NG mode becomes proportional to the square root of the momentum. We find that the damping of the Higgs mode is significantly suppressed by the long-range interaction. We also propose how to excite and probe the Higgs mode in Rydberg-atom experiments.
We discuss the mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking and the elementary excitations for a weakly-interacting Bose gas at a finite temperature. We consider both the non-relativistic case, described by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, and the relativistic one, described by the cubic nonlinear Klein-Gordon equation. We analyze similarities and differences in the two equations and, in particular, in the phase and amplitude modes (i.e., Goldstone and Higgs modes) of the bosonic matter field. We show that the coupling between phase and amplitude modes gives rise to a single gapless Bogoliubov spectrum in the non-relativistic case. Instead, in the relativistic case the spectrum has two branches: one is gapless and the other is gapped. In the non-relativistic limit we find that the relativistic spectrum reduces to the Bogoliubov one. Finally, as an application of the above analysis, we consider the Bose-Hubbard model close to the superfluid-Mott quantum phase transition and we investigate the elementary excitations of its effective action, which contains both non-relativistic and relativistic terms.
Bragg spectroscopy shows the evolution of gapless Goldstone modes and single-particle-like excitations in an atomic Fermi superfluid as it crosses from a Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer superfluid to the Bose–Einstein condensate regime. Spontaneous symmetry breaking is a central paradigm of elementary particle physics1, magnetism2, superfluidity3 and superconductivity4. According to Goldstone’s theorem, phase transitions that break continuous symmetries lead to the existence of gapless excitations in the long-wavelength limit5. These Goldstone modes can become the dominant low-energy excitation, showing that symmetry breaking has a profound impact on the physical properties of matter. Here, we present a comprehensive study of the elementary excitations in a homogeneous strongly interacting Fermi gas through the crossover from a Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) superfluid to a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) of molecules using two-photon Bragg spectroscopy. The spectra exhibit a discrete Goldstone mode, associated with the broken-symmetry superfluid phase, as well as pair-breaking single-particle excitations. Our techniques yield a direct determination of the superfluid pairing gap and speed of sound in close agreement with strong-coupling theories.
We explored interaction cold atoms in new quantum regimes that have no prior analogue in condensed matter materials in three related main topics. First, motivated by recent advance in orbitally tuned Feshbach resonance experiments, we analyze the ground-state phase diagram and related low-energy excitation spectra of a high partial wave interacting Bose gas. Remarkably different from what was previously known in the p-wave case, the atomic superfluid is found to be momentum-independent in the present d-wave case. What is more, we study the quantum fluctuations in the condensates of a mixture of bosonic atoms and molecules with interspecies p-wave interaction. Our analysis shows that the quantum phase of coexisting atomic and molecular condensates is unstable at the mean-field level. The quantum Lee-Huang-Yang correction to the mean-field energy provides a remarkable mechanism to self-stabilize the phase. The correlated order spontaneously breaks a rich set of global U(1) gauge, atomic spin, spatial rotation and translation, and time-reversal symmetries. Second, we study the dynamics of a non-integrable spin chain model composed of two ingredients - a nearest neighbor Ising coupling, and an infinite range XX interaction. Unlike other fast scrambling many-body systems, this model is not known to be dual to a black hole. We demonstrate that our model exhibits fast scrambling for a wide parameter regime, accompanied by a fast growth of the entanglement entropy, as well as a swift change in the magnetization. Third, to extend the study of the highly chaotic many-body model, we analyze the ground state phases of the model with a nearest neighbor XXZ interaction and an infinite range XX interaction. By employing spin-wave theory, we find that there is a large parameter regime where the continuous U(1) symmetry of this model is spontaneously broken, which is not possible in the absence of the infinite range interaction by the Mermin-Wagner theorem. Furthermore, we demonstrate that in the U(1) symmetry broken phase, the half chain entanglement entropy violates the area law logarithmically. Our work demonstrates that the interplay of short and long range interactions can lead to novel quantum phases of matter.