Spontaneous Breaking of Chiral Symmetry in QCD

Non-Abelian vortices arise when a non-Abelian global symmetry is exact in the ground state but spontaneously broken in the vicinity of their cores. In this case, there appear (non-Abelian) Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes confined and propagating along the vortex. In relativistic theories, the Coleman-Mermin-Wagner theorem forbids the existence of a spontaneous symmetry breaking, or a long-range order, in 1+1 dimensions: quantum corrections restore the symmetry along the vortex and the NG modes acquire a mass gap. We show that in non-relativistic theories NG modes with quadratic dispersion relation confined on a vortex can remain gapless at quantum level. We provide a concrete and experimentally realizable example of a three-component Bose-Einstein condensate with U(1) x U(2) symmetry. We first show, at the classical level, the existence of S^3 = S^1 |x S^2 (S^1 fibered over S^2) NG modes associated to the breaking U(2) -> U(1) on vortices, where S^1 and S^2 correspond to type I and II NG modes, respectively. We then show, by using a Bethe ansatz technique, that the U(1) symmetry is restored, while the SU(2) symmery remains broken non-pertubatively at quantum level. Accordingly, the U(1) NG mode turns into a c=1 conformal field theory, the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid, while the S^2 NG mode remains gapless, describing a ferromagnetic liquid. This allows the vortex to be genuinely non-Abelian at quantum level.

We discuss spontaneous breaking of internal symmetry and its Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes in dissipative systems. We find that there exist two types of NG modes in dissipative systems corresponding to type-A and type-B NG modes in Hamiltonian systems. To demonstrate the symmetry breaking, we consider a $O(N)$ scalar model obeying a Fokker-Planck equation. We show that the type-A NG modes in the dissipative system are diffusive modes, while they are propagating modes in Hamiltonian systems. We point out that this difference is caused by the existence of two types of Noether charges, $Q_R^\alpha$ and $Q_A^\alpha$: $Q_R^\alpha$ are symmetry generators of Hamiltonian systems, which are not conserved in dissipative systems. $Q_A^\alpha$ are symmetry generators of dissipative systems described by the Fokker-Planck equation, which are conserved. We find that the NG modes are propagating modes if $Q_R^\alpha$ are conserved, while those are diffusive modes if they are not conserved. We also consider a $SU(2)\times U(1)$ scalar model with a chemical potential to discuss the type-B NG modes. We show that the type-B NG modes have a different dispersion relation from those in the Hamiltonian systems.

We discuss the dispersion relations of Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes associated with spontaneous breaking of internal symmetries at finite temperature and/or density. We show that the dispersion relations of type-A (I) and type-B (II) NG modes are linear and quadratic in momentum, whose imaginary parts are quadratic and quartic, respectively. In both cases, the real parts of the dispersion relations are larger than the imaginary parts when the momentum is small, so that the NG modes can propagate far away. We derive the gap formula for NG modes in the presence of a small explicit breaking term. We also discuss the gapped partners of type-B NG modes, when the expectation values of a charge density and a local operator that break the same symmetry coexist.

When a continuous symmetry is spontaneously broken in non-relativistic theories, there appear Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes, whose dispersion relations are either linear (type-I) or quadratic (type-II). We give a general framework to interpolate between relativistic and non-relativistic NG modes, revealing a nature of type-I and II NG modes in non-relativistic theories. The interpolating Lagrangians have the nonlinear Lorentz invariance which reduces to the Galilei or Schrodinger invariance in the non-relativistic limit. We find that type-I and type-II NG modes in the interpolating region are accompanied with a Higgs mode and a chiral NG partner, respectively, both of which are gapful. In the ultra-relativistic limit, a set of a type-I NG mode and its Higgs partner remains, while a set of type-II NG mode and gapful NG partner turns to a set of two type-I NG modes. In the non-relativistic limit, the both types of accompanied gapful modes become infinitely massive, disappearing from the spectrum. The examples contain a phonon in Bose-Einstein condensates, a magnon in ferromagnets, and a Kelvon and dilaton-magnon localized around a skyrmion line in ferromagnets.

We discuss spontaneous symmetry breaking and the Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes at finite temperature and density. We focus on internal symmetry breaking for general systems including QCD at finite temperature and density. We show that there are two types of NG modes: type-A and type-B NG modes. The difference of these modes can be understood as the different motions: harmonic oscillation and precession motion. We also discuss the counting rule of NG modes and their dispersion relations.

We develop the effective field theory of diffusive Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes associated with spontaneous internal symmetry breaking taking place in nonequilibrium open systems. The effective Lagrangian describing semi-classical dynamics of the NG modes is derived and matching conditions for low-energy coefficients are also investigated. Due to new terms peculiar to open systems, the associated NG modes show diffusive gapless behaviors in contrast to the propagating NG mode in closed systems. We demonstrate two typical situations relevant to the condensed matter physics and high-energy physics, where diffusive type-A or type-B NG modes appear.

We discuss spontaneous symmetry breaking of open classical and quantum systems. When a continuous symmetry is spontaneously broken in an open system, a gapless excitation mode appears corresponding to the Nambu–Goldstone mode. Unlike isolated systems, the gapless mode is not always a propagation mode, but it is a diffusion one. Using the Ward–Takahashi identity and the effective action formalism, we establish the Nambu–Goldstone theorem in open systems, and derive the low-energy coefficients that determine the dispersion relation of Nambu–Goldstone modes. Using these coefficients, we classify the Nambu–Goldstone modes into four types: type-A propagation, type-A diffusion, type-B propagation, and type-B diffusion modes.

We discuss the counting of Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes associated with the spontaneous breaking of higher-form global symmetries. Effective field theories of NG modes are developed based on symmetry-breaking patterns, using a generalized coset construction for higher-form symmetries. We derive a formula of the number of gapless NG modes, which involves expectation values of the commutators of conserved charges, possibly of different degrees.

Spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry in QCD has traditionally been inferred indirectly through low-energy theorems and comparison with experiments. Thanks to the understanding of an unexpected connection between chiral Random Matrix Theory and chiral Perturbation Theory, the spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry in QCD can now be shown unequivocally from first principles and lattice simulations. In these lectures I give an introduction to the subject, starting with an elementary discussion of spontaneous breaking of global symmetries.

On the spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry in QCD

The Nambu-Goldstone modes on the exotic chiral condensed phase with chiral and tensor-type quark-antiquark condensates are investigated by using the two-point vertex functions. It is shown that one of the Nambu-Goldstone modes appears as a result of meson mixing. As is well known, another method to find the Nambu-Goldstone modes is given by the use of the algebraic commutation relations between broken generators and massless modes obtained through the spontaneous symmetry breaking. This method is adopted to the cases of the chiral symmetry breakings due to the tensor-type condensate and the inhomogeneous chiral condensate. The result obtained by the use of the meson two-point vertex functions is obviously reproduced in the case of the tensor-type condensate. Furthermore, we investigate the general rules for determining the broken symmetries and the Nambu-Goldstone modes algebraically. As examples, the symmetry breaking pattern and the Nambu-Goldstone modes due to the tensor-type condensate or the inhomogeneous chiral condensate are shown by adopting the general rules developed in this paper in the algebraic method. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Counting rule of Nambu–Goldstone modes for internal and spacetime symmetries: Bogoliubov theory approach

Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes for 0-form and higher-form symmetries can become unstable in the presence of background fields. Examples include the instability of a photon with a time-dependent axion background or with a chirality imbalance, known as the chiral plasma instability, and the instability of a dynamical axion with a background electric field. We show that all these phenomena can be universally described by a symmetry algebra for 0-form and higher-form symmetries. We prove a counting rule for the number of unstable NG modes in terms of correlation functions of broken symmetry generators. Based on our unified description, we further give a simple new example where one of the NG modes associated with the spontaneous 0-form symmetry breaking $U(1) \times U(1) \to \{1\}$ becomes unstable.

In fermionic superfluids that are charge neutral, Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes also known as Anderson-Bogoliubov modes emerge as a result of spontaneous symmetry breaking. Here, we discuss DC transport properties of such NG modes through a quantum point contact. We show that contrary to a naive view that enhancement of the phase stiffness may suppress transport of the NG modes, there must be an anomalous contribution that survives at low temperature. This contribution originates from the conversion process between the condensate and NG mode. We find that within the BCS regime the anomalous contribution is enhanced with increasing channel transmittance and attractive interaction, and leads to a temperature-dependent Lorenz number and absence of the bunching effect in current noise.

The ground state of QCD with two flavors at a finite baryon chemical potential under rapid rotation is a chiral soliton lattice (CSL) of the η meson, consisting of a stack of sine-Gordon solitons carrying a baryon number, due to the anomalous coupling of the η meson to the rotation. In a large parameter region, the ground state becomes a non-Abelian CSL, in which due to the neutral pion condensation each η soliton decays into a pair of non-Abelian sine-Gordon solitons carrying S2 moduli originated from Nambu-Goldstone (NG) modes localized around it, corresponding to the spontaneously broken vector symmetry SU(2)V. There, the S2 modes of neighboring solitons are anti-aligned, and these modes should propagate in the transverse direction of the lattice due to the interaction between the S2 modes of neighboring solitons. In this paper, we calculate excitations including gapless NG modes and excited modes around non-Abelian and Abelian (η) CSLs, and find three gapless NG modes with linear dispersion relations (type-A NG modes): two isospinons (S2 modes) and a phonon corresponding to the spontaneously broken vector SU(2)V and translational symmetries around the non-Abelian CSL, respectively, and only a phonon for the Abelian CSL because of the recovering SU(2)V. We also find in the deconfined phase that the dispersion relation of the isospinons becomes of the Dirac type, i.e. linear even at large momentum.