Solids appear to have localised centres of mass, yet many-body quantum theory describes them using translationally symmetric models that preclude localisation. Conventionally, this is resolved through spontaneous symmetry breaking by introducing an interaction with a semiclassical environment that breaks the symmetry. In the thermodynamic limit, the interaction can be removed while leaving the state localised. This, however, raises the question of how localisation arises outside the thermodynamic limit, i.e., in finite quantum systems (Wallace, 2018). Here, we show that, by quantising the environment, the localisation of finite systems occurs within decoherent branches, while the state vector of the composite system remains translationally symmetric. Our approach is analogous to the Page-Wootters construction (Page & Wootters, 1983) and quantum reference frames; moreover, we recover the semiclassical description as a limiting case while predicting experimentally distinguishable corrections away from this limit.
Solids appear to have localised centres of mass, yet many-body quantum theory describes them using translationally symmetric models that preclude localisation. Conventionally, this is resolved through spontaneous symmetry breaking by introducing an interaction with a semiclassical environment that breaks the symmetry. In the thermodynamic limit, the interaction can be removed while leaving the state localised. This, however, raises the question of how localisation arises outside the thermodynamic limit, i.e., in finite quantum systems (Wallace, 2018). Here, we show that, by quantising the environment, the localisation of finite systems occurs within decoherent branches, while the state vector of the composite system remains translationally symmetric. Our approach is analogous to the Page-Wootters construction (Page & Wootters, 1983) and quantum reference frames; moreover, we recover the semiclassical description as a limiting case while predicting experimentally distinguishable corrections away from this limit.
Beginning with Anderson (1972) , spontaneous symmetry breaking ( ssb ) in infinite quantum systems is often put forward as an example of (asymptotic) emergence in physics , since in theory no finite system should display it. Even the correspondence between theory and reality is at stake here, since numerous real materials show ssb in their ground states (or equilibrium states at low temperature), although they are finite. Thus against what is sometimes called ‘Earman's Principle’, a genuine physical effect (viz. ssb ) seems theoretically recovered only in some idealisation (namely the thermodynamic limit), disappearing as soon as the idealisation is removed. We review the well-known arguments that (at first sight) no finite system can exhibit ssb , using the formalism of algebraic quantum theory in order to control the thermodynamic limit and unify the description of finite- and infinite-volume systems. Using the striking mathematical analogy between the thermodynamic limit and the classical limit, we show that a similar situation obtains in quantum mechanics (which typically forbids ssb ) versus classical mechanics (which allows it). This discrepancy between formalism and reality is quite similar to the measurement problem (now regarded as an instance of asymptotic emergence), and hence we address it in the same way, adapting an argument of the Landsman and Reuvers (2013) that was originally intended to explain the collapse of the wave-function within conventional quantum mechanics. Namely, exponential sensitivity to (asymmetric) perturbations of the (symmetric) dynamics as the system size increases causes symmetry breaking already in finite but very large quantum systems. This provides continuity between finite- and infinite-volume descriptions of quantum systems featuring ssb and hence restores Earman's Principle (at least in this particularly threatening case).
The description of spontaneous symmetry breaking that underlies the connection between classically ordered objects in the thermodynamic limit and their individual quantum-mechanical building blocks is one of the cornerstones of modern condensed-matter theory and has found applications in many different areas of physics. The theory of spontaneous symmetry breaking, however, is inherently an equilibrium theory, which does not address the dynamics of quantum systems in the thermodynamic limit. Here, we will use the example of a particular antiferromagnetic model system to show that the presence of a so-called thin spectrum of collective excitations with vanishing energy---one of the well-known characteristic properties shared by all symmetry-breaking objects---can allow these objects to also spontaneously break time-translation symmetry in the thermodynamic limit. As a result, that limit is found to be able, not only to reduce quantum-mechanical equilibrium averages to their classical counterparts, but also to turn individual-state quantum dynamics into classical physics. In the process, we find that the dynamical description of spontaneous symmetry breaking can also be used to shed some light on the possible origins of Born's rule. We conclude by describing an experiment on a condensate of exciton polaritons which could potentially be used to experimentally test the proposed mechanism.
Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) in quantum systems, such as ferromagnets, is normally described as (or as arising from) degeneracy of the ground state; however, it is well established that this degeneracy only occurs in spatially infinite systems, and even better established that ferromagnets are not spatially infinite. I review this well-known paradox, and consider a popular solution where the symmetry is explicitly broken by some external field which goes to zero in the infinite-volume limit; although this is formally satisfactory, I argue that it must be rejected as a physical explanation of SSB since it fails to reproduce some important features of the phenomenology. Motivated by considerations from the analogous classical system, I argue that SSB in finite systems should be understood in terms of the approximate decoupling of the system's state space into dynamically-isolated sectors, related by a symmetry transformation; I use the formalism of decoherent histories to make this more precise and to quantify the effect, showing that it is more than sufficient to explain SSB in realistic systems and that it goes over in a smooth and natural way to the infinite limit.
Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) is central to modern physics but is conventionally defined only for infinite systems, raising challenges for its interpretation in finite, real-world setups. This paper argues that the key to resolving this issue lies in the underappreciated role of boundary conditions in quantum systems. Inspired by both the relational approach to symmetries and the physical mechanism behind symmetry breaking, we formulate a relational interpretation of SSB: a finite system exhibits SSB relative to a reference environment which can induce perturbations across the boundary. This eliminates the need for the thermodynamic limit, offering a more physical picture of SSB that emphasizes the observable consequences of the interactions that real-life systems inevitably have with their environment. We show how, in this relational interpretation, SSB for both lattice systems and (gauge) field theories should be understood as subtle, rather than spontaneous, symmetry breaking, still in contrast to explicit symmetry breaking. We also explain how algebraic definitions of SSB for infinite systems relate to the intuitive picture of SSB in finite systems and illustrate how asymptotic boundary conditions push the environment "to infinity". In this way, our relational interpretation of SSB provides a unified conceptual framework applicable to symmetry-breaking in systems of any size.
A cornerstone of the theory of phase transitions is the observation that many-body systems exhibiting a spontaneous symmetry breaking in the thermodynamic limit generally show extensive fluctuations of an order parameter in large but finite systems. In this work, we introduce the dynamical analog of such a theory. Specifically, we consider local dissipative dynamics preparing an equilibrium steady-state of quantum spins on a lattice exhibiting a discrete or continuous symmetry but with extensive fluctuations in a local order parameter. We show that for all such processes, there exist asymptotically stationary symmetry-breaking states, i.e., states that become stationary in the thermodynamic limit and give a finite value to the order parameter. We give results both for discrete and continuous symmetries and explicitly show how to construct the symmetry-breaking states. Our results show in a simple way that, in large systems, local dissipative dynamics satisfying detailed balance cannot uniquely and efficiently prepare states with extensive fluctuations with respect to local operators. We discuss the implications of our results for quantum simulators and dissipative state preparation.
In this paper, as a personal review, we suppose a possible extension of Gibbs ensemble theory so that it can provide a reasonable description of phase transitions and spontaneous symmetry breaking. The extension is founded on three hypotheses, and can be regarded as a microscopic edition of the Landau phenomenological theory of phase transitions. Within its framework, the stable state of a system is determined by the evolution of order parameter with temperature according to such a principle that the entropy of the system will reach its minimum in this state. The evolution of order parameter can cause a change in representation of the system Hamiltonian; different phases will realize different representations, respectively; a phase transition amounts to a representation transformation. Physically, it turns out that phase transitions originate from the automatic interference among matter waves as the temperature is cooled down. Typical quantum many-body systems are studied with this extended ensemble theory. We regain the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer solution for the weak-coupling superconductivity, and prove that it is stable. We find that negative-temperature and laser phases arise from the same mechanism as phase transitions, and that they are unstable. For the ideal Bose gas, we demonstrate that it will produce Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) in the thermodynamic limit, which confirms exactly Einstein's deep physical insight. In contrast, there is no BEC either within the phonon gas in a black body or within the ideal photon gas in a solid body. We prove that it is not admissible to quantize the Dirac field by using Bose–Einstein statistics. We show that a structural phase transition belongs physically to the BEC happening in configuration space, and that a double-well anharmonic system will undergo a structural phase transition at a finite temperature. For the O( N )-symmetric vector model, we demonstrate that it will yield spontaneous symmetry breaking and produce Goldstone bosons; and if it is coupled with a gauge field, the gauge field will obtain a mass (Higgs mechanism). Also, we show that an interacting Bose gas is stable only if the interaction is repulsive. For the weak interaction case, we find that the BEC is a 'λ-transition' and its transition temperature can be lowered by the repulsive interaction. In connection with liquid 4 He, it is found that the specific heat at constant pressure C P will show a T 3 law at low temperatures, which is in agreement with the experiment. If the system is further cooled down, the theory predicts that C P will vanish linearly as , which is anticipating experimental verifications.