All Questions
Tagged with symmetry-breaking statistical-mechanics
68
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Does the changes of flow regimes of the renormalization group flow diagram imply always that a symmetry has been broken?
Usually we can use RG flow diagrams to understand that a phase transition has happened. Because they are intimately related to a broken symmetry, does that imply that it always implies that a symmetry ...
- 11
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1
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127
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Spontaneous symmetry breaking in phase transitions
I don't really understand the concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking in phase transitions. From my understanding of how spontaneous symmetry breaking works I need to find the ground states of a ...
- 305
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Can a $\mathbb{Z}_2 \times \mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry generated by $\prod_{i} \sigma^x_i$ and $\prod_{i} \sigma^z_i$ be broken in a spin-$1/2$ chain?
I am interested in understanding patterns of spontaneous symmetry breaking in spin chains. I want to understand what happens when I have "competing" orders, like symmetry breaking orders ...
- 2,282
6
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2
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Entropy during spontaneous symmetry breaking
Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) occurs when the state of a system possesses less symmetry than the underlying laws governing it. This raises the question: What happens to the entropy of the system ...
- 342
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Existence of low temperature phase in 2-Dimensional XY-Model
I'm reading the lecture notes of David Tong on Statistical Field Theory, specifically chapter $4.4$ on the Kosterlitz-Thouless Transition. He considers the XY model in $d=2$ dimensions and states the ...
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Spontaneous breaking of discrete symmetry in d=1+1 at finite temperature and infinite volume
I came across the question of SSB of a discrete symmetry (say, $\mathbb{Z}_2$) symmetry in a QFT in d=1+1 dimensions, at finite temperature, and I have trouble making sense of two different viewpoints ...
5
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Mermin-Wagner theorem and SSB in 2D: is there sound in low dimensional solids
The Mermin-Wagner theorem states that there cannot be any spontaneous symmetry breaking happening in systems with short range interactions below dimension 3. Moreover, we know that Goldstone boson, ...
- 1,168
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If I explicitly break the 3-state Potts model $S_3$ to $\mathbb{Z}_3$, what changes at the phase transition?
I'm hoping to understand generic features of systems that undergo a $\mathbb{Z}_3$-breaking phase transition. I've noticed that models that I usually associated with a $\mathbb{Z}_3$ symmetry, like ...
- 2,282
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Is there (emergent) higher form spontaneous symmetry breaking in classical statistical field theory?
I was wondering if there are examples of (emergent) higher form spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) in classical statistical physics (finite temperature). I believe the deconfined phase of gauge ...
- 978
4
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I've read that spontaneous symmetry breaking is similar to what happens in ferromagnetism, but are they similar mathematically?
Is it only an analogy? Similar to saying that the Higgs boson is like glass that slows down light and, thereby, seems to give it "mass"? I've looked up a little about ferromagnetism and ...
- 971
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Confusion about symmetry spontaneous breaking in a simple model
Hamiltonian and symmetry
I was learning about the symmetry spontaneous breaking (SSB), but confused by this simple minima model$$H=E_0\sum_{i=1}^3|i\rangle\langle i|+J\left(|1\rangle\langle 2|+|2\...
- 216
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448
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Relation between Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking and Renormalization Group
I have two different pictures in my head of how a phase transition occurs, but I am not sure of the relation between these two pictures.
SSB: Our theory has a global symmetry and when the parameters ...
- 642
4
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168
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Frustrated classical field theory
The frustrated Ising model (see e.g. this answer) is an example of a system that shows no unique ground state and many metastable states (its "energy landscape" is extremely complex). ...
- 5,058
2
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Statistical physics of broken symmetry state?
If we are considering a system, like a paramagnet, above its critical temperature $T_c$ we can statistically describe it using a canonical ensemble:
$$
\langle A \rangle = Tr\left[ \rho A \right]; \...
- 1,795
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Mermin-Wagner and superconductivity
Why can superconductivity exist in 2D since Mermin-Wagner should forbit it? This question was asked here before, but I don't think anyone gave a satisfactory answer, so let me revisit it.
I have read ...
- 2,113