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12 votes
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If spontaneous symmetry breaking only occurs in infinite systems, why do we observe similar effects in finite systems?

Background No SSB in finite systems Consider a system interacting with a heat bath at inverse temperature $\beta$, with the resultant dynamics of the system described by a Liouvillian superoperator $...
anon1802's user avatar
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23 votes
3 answers
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How to rigorously argue that the superposition state is unstable in spontaneously symmetry breaking case

In quantum mechanics, the definition of symmetry breaking is nontrivial. See What is spontaneous symmetry breaking in QUANTUM systems? Let me briefly summarize that question: In spin-$1/2$ quantum ...
maplemaple's user avatar
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