An intrinsic limit to quantum coherence due to spontaneous symmetry breaking

Abstract

We investigate the influence of spontaneous symmetry breaking on the decoherence of a many-particle quantum system. This decoherence process is analyzed in an exactly solvable model system that is known to be representative of symmetry broken macroscopic systems in equilibrium. It is shown that spontaneous symmetry breaking imposes a fundamental limit to the time that a system can stay quantum coherent. This universal timescale is $t_{spon}\simeq 2\pi N\hslash /(k_{B}T)$, given in terms of the number of microscopic degrees of freedom $N$, temperature $T$, and the constants of Planck ($\hslash$) and Boltzmann ($k_B$).

arXiv comment4 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (3)

• Coherent Quantum Dynamics of a Superconducting Flux Qubit
• Exact spectra, spin susceptibilities and order parameter of the quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the triangular lattice
• Quantum Computers, Factoring, and Decoherence

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