Spontaneous symmetry breaking in the problem of scattering a particle by a one-dimensional $\delta$-potential barrier
Nikolay Leonidovich Chuprikov
Abstract
It is shown that spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs in this scattering problem. As a result, the unitary, asymptotically free quantum dynamics of this process is unstable. It transforms into dynamics associated with the violation of $P$- and $T$-symmetries and the appearance of a superselection rule. Here, the non-unitary scattering state is a mixed vector state, which is a coherent superposition of transmission and reflection states related to different Hamiltonians. Superselection operators for the transmission and reflection subprocesses are defined.