کد مقاله کد نشریه سال انتشار مقاله انگلیسی نسخه تمام متن
1161138 1490435 2013 6 صفحه PDF دانلود رایگان
عنوان انگلیسی مقاله ISI
How is spontaneous symmetry breaking possible? Understanding Wigner's theorem in light of unitary inequivalence
موضوعات مرتبط
مهندسی و علوم پایه فیزیک و نجوم فیزیک و نجوم (عمومی)
پیش نمایش صفحه اول مقاله
How is spontaneous symmetry breaking possible? Understanding Wigner's theorem in light of unitary inequivalence
چکیده انگلیسی

We pose and resolve a puzzle about spontaneous symmetry breaking in the quantum theory of infinite systems. For a symmetry to be spontaneously broken, it must not be implementable by a unitary operator in a ground state's GNS representation. But Wigner's theorem guarantees that any symmetry's action on states is given by a unitary operator. How can this unitary operator fail to implement the symmetry in the GNS representation? We show how it is possible for a unitary operator of this sort to connect the folia of unitarily inequivalent representations. This result undermines interpretations of quantum theory that hold unitary equivalence to be necessary for physical equivalence.

ناشر
Database: Elsevier - ScienceDirect (ساینس دایرکت)
Journal: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics - Volume 44, Issue 4, November 2013, Pages 464–469
نویسندگان
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