Broken Time Translation Symmetry as a model for Quantum State Reduction

Abstract

The symmetries that govern the laws of nature can be spontaneously broken, enabling the occurrence of ordered states. Crystals arise from the breaking of translation symmetry, magnets from broken spin rotation symmetry and massive particles break a phase rotation symmetry. Time translation symmetry can be spontaneously broken in exactly the same way. The order associated with this form of spontaneous symmetry breaking is characterised by the emergence of quantum state reduction: systems which spontaneously break time translation symmetry act as ideal measurement machines. In this review the breaking of time translation symmetry is first compared to that of other symmetries such as spatial translations and rotations. It is then discussed how broken time translation symmetry gives rise to the process of quantum state reduction and how it generates a pointer basis, Born's rule, etc. After a comparison between this model and alternative approaches to the problem of quantum state reduction, the experimental implications and possible tests of broken time translation symmetry in realistic experimental settings are discussed.

15 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (2)

• On the relation between decoherence and spontaneous symmetry breaking
• Coherence lifetimes of excitations in an atomic condensate due to the thin spectrum

Cited by in corpus (14)

• An Introduction to Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking
• A Nanoscale Experiment Measuring Gravity's Role in Breaking the Unitarity of Quantum Dynamics
• Quantum superpositions of a mirror for experimental tests for nonunitary Newtonian gravity
• An objective collapse model without state dependent stochasticity
• Quantum state reduction of general initial states through spontaneous unitarity violation
• Colored noise driven unitarity violation causing dynamical quantum state reduction
• Phase transitions as a manifestation of spontaneous unitarity violation
• Energy Momentum Localization in Quantum Gravity
• Superluminal signalling witness for quantum state reduction
• Continuous spontaneous localization as the white-noise limit of spontaneous unitarity violation
• The Instability of a Quantum Superposition of Time Dilations
• Decoherence and definite outcomes
• Time-translation invariance symmetry breaking hidden by finite-scale singularities
• The inconsistency of linear dynamics and Born's rule