Gauge invariance and symmetry breaking by topology and energy gap

DOI10.3390/MATH3040984MaRDI QIDQ901453zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Franco Strocchi, Carlo Heissenberg

Publication date 12 January 2016

Published in Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1511.01757

zbMATH Keywords

energy gapsymmetry breaking by topologyWeyl-polymer quantization

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Finite-dimensional groups and algebras motivated by physics and their representations (81R05) Symmetry breaking in quantum theory (81R40) Quantization in field theory; cohomological methods (81T70) Other elementary particle theory in quantum theory (81V25)

Abstract: For the description of observables and states of a quantum system, it may be convenient to use a canonical Weyl algebra of which only a subalgebra $mathcalA$, with a non-trivial center $mathcalZ$, describes observables, the other Weyl operators playing the role of intertwiners between inequivalent representations of $mathcalA$. In particular, this gives rise to a gauge symmetry described by the action of $mathcalZ$. A distinguished case is when the center of the observables arises from the fundamental group of the manifold of the positions of the quantum system. Symmetries which do not commute with the topological invariants represented by elements of $mathcalZ$ are then spontaneously broken in each irreducible representation of the observable algebra, compatibly with an energy gap; such a breaking exhibits a mechanism radically different from Goldstone and Higgs mechanisms. This is clearly displayed by the quantum particle on a circle, the Bloch electron and the two body problem.

Review text

Summary: For the description of observables and states of a quantum system, it may be convenient to use a canonical Weyl algebra of which only a subalgebra \(\mathcal A\), with a non-trivial center \(\mathcal Z\), describes observables, the other Weyl operators playing the role of intertwiners between inequivalent representations of \(\mathcal A\). In particular, this gives rise to a gauge symmetry described by the action of \(\mathcal Z\). A distinguished case is when the center of the observables arises from the fundamental group of the manifold of the positions of the quantum system. Symmetries that do not commute with the topological invariants represented by elements of \(\mathcal Z\) are then spontaneously broken in each irreducible representation of the observable algebra, compatibly with an energy gap; such a breaking exhibits a mechanism radically different from Goldstone and Higgs mechanisms. This is clearly displayed by the quantum particle on a circle, the Bloch electron and the two body problem.

Recommendations

• Symmetries, symmetry breaking, gauge symmetries
• On gauge invariance and spontaneous symmetry breaking
• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 4003020
• A note on gauge symmetry breaking
• Symmetry breaking

Cites work

• A generalization of the Stone-von Neumann theorem to nonregular representations of the CCR-algebra
• A theorem of Stone and von Neumann
• Algebraic fermion bosonization
• Die Eindeutigkeit der Schrödingerschen Operatoren
• Gauge invariance and Weyl-polymer quantization
• Infrared singular fields and nonregular representations of canonical commutation relation algebras
• On the uniqueness of the Heisenberg commutation relations
• Quantum mechanics on manifolds and topological effects
• Spectral stochastic processes arising in quantum mechanical models with a non-\(L^ 2\) ground state
• Symmetry breaking.
• Theta vacua, charge confinement and charged sectors from nonregular representations of CCR algebras
• Translation invariant states in quantum mechanics

Cited in

(2)

• Symmetries, symmetry breaking, gauge symmetries
• Nonrelativistic fermionic energy gap in the nonabelian gauge systems

This page was built for publication: Gauge invariance and symmetry breaking by topology and energy gap

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q901453)