Goldstone theorem revisited

Abstract

According to the Goldstone theorem a scalar theory with a spontaneously broken global symmetry contains strictly massless states. In this letter we identify a loophole in the current-algebra proof of the theorem. Therefore, the question whether in models with Mexican hat potential the tangential excitations are strictly massless or are just almost massless as compared to the radial ones remains open. We also argue that mass of the tangential excitations approaches zero even if the symmetry is not spontaneously broken but a combination of the field components invariant under the symmetry transformations acquires a large vacuum expectation value.