Symmetry Breaking In Quantum Systems Research Articles

Robust spin squeezing from the tower of states of U(1)-symmetric spin Hamiltonians

Spin squeezing - a central resource for quantum metrology - can be generated via the non-linear, entangling evolution of an initially factorized spin state. Here we show that robust (i.e. persistent) squeezing dynamics is generated by a very large class of $S=1/2$ spin Hamiltonians with axial symmetry, in relationship with the existence of a peculiar structure of the low-lying Hamiltonian eigenstates - the so-called Anderson's tower of states. Such states are fundamentally related to the appearance of spontaneous symmetry breaking in quantum systems; and, for models with sufficiently high connectivity, they are parametrically close to the eigenstates of a planar rotor (Dicke states), in that they feature an anomalously large value of the total angular momentum. Our central insight is that, starting from a coherent spin state, a generic $U(1)$-symmetric Hamiltonian featuring the Anderson's tower of states generates the same squeezing evolution at short times as the one governed by the paradigmatic one-axis-twisting (or planar-rotor) model of squeezing dynamics. The full squeezing evolution of the planar-rotor model is seemingly reproduced for interactions decaying with distance $r$ as $r^{-\alpha}$ when $\alpha < 5d/3$ in $d$ dimensions. Our results connect quantum simulation with quantum metrology by unveiling the squeezing power of a large variety of Hamiltonian dynamics that are currently implemented by different quantum simulation platforms.

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in quantum systems: Emergence or reduction?

Beginning with Anderson (1972), spontaneous symmetry breaking (ssb) in infinite quantum systems is often put forward as an example of (asymptotic) emergence in physics, since in theory no finite system should display it. Even the correspondence between theory and reality is at stake here, since numerous real materials show ssbin their ground states (or equilibrium states at low temperature), although they are finite. Thus against what is sometimes called ‘Earman's Principle’, a genuine physical effect (viz. ssb) seems theoretically recovered only in some idealisation (namely the thermodynamic limit), disappearing as soon as the idealisation is removed.We review the well-known arguments that (at first sight) no finite system can exhibit ssb, using the formalism of algebraic quantum theory in order to control the thermodynamic limit and unify the description of finite- and infinite-volume systems. Using the striking mathematical analogy between the thermodynamic limit and the classical limit, we show that a similar situation obtains in quantum mechanics (which typically forbids ssb) versus classical mechanics (which allows it).This discrepancy between formalism and reality is quite similar to the measurement problem (now regarded as an instance of asymptotic emergence), and hence we address it in the same way, adapting an argument of the Landsman and Reuvers (2013) that was originally intended to explain the collapse of the wave-function within conventional quantum mechanics. Namely, exponential sensitivity to (asymmetric) perturbations of the (symmetric) dynamics as the system size increases causes symmetry breaking already in finite but very large quantum systems. This provides continuity between finite- and infinite-volume descriptions of quantum systems featuring ssband hence restores Earman's Principle (at least in this particularly threatening case).

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in quantum systems

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in quantum systems

Vortex nucleation as a case study of symmetry breaking in quantum systems

Mean-field methods are a very powerful tool for investigating weakly interacting many-body systems in many branches of physics. In particular, they describe with excellent accuracy trapped Bose–Einstein condensates. A generic, but difficult question concerns the relation between the symmetry properties of the true many-body state and its mean-field approximation. Here, we address this question by considering, theoretically, vortex nucleation in a rotating Bose–Einstein condensate. A slow sweep of the rotation frequency changes the state of the system from being at rest to the one containing one vortex. Within the mean-field framework, the jump in symmetry occurs through a turbulent phase around a certain critical frequency. The exact many-body ground state at the critical frequency exhibits strong correlations and entanglement. We believe that this constitutes a paradigm example of symmetry breaking in—or change of the order parameter of—quantum many-body systems in the course of adiabatic evolution. A potentially general mechanism for symmetry breaking in mesoscopic quantum systems is revealed in a theoretical study, which shows how, in a rotating Bose–Einstein condensate, the symmetry properties of the true many-body state are related to those of its mean-field approximation.

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in quantum mechanics

We present a mathematically simple procedure to explain spontaneous symmetry breaking in quantum 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 a “thin” spectrum.