Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking in Quantum Mechanics

Abstract

We present a clear and mathematically simple procedure explaining spontaneous symmetry breaking in quantum mechanical systems. The procedure is applicable to a wide range of models and can be easily used to explain the existence of a symmetry broken state in crystals, antiferromagnets and even superconductors. It has the advantage that it automatically brings to the fore the main players in spontaneous symmetry breaking: the symmetry breaking field, the thermodynamic limit, and the global excitations of the thin spectrum.

4 pages, 0 figures

References in corpus (2)

• An intrinsic limit to quantum coherence due to spontaneous symmetry breaking
• On the relation between decoherence and spontaneous symmetry breaking

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