General theory for discrete symmetry-breaking equilibrium states

Abstract

Spontaneous symmetry-breaking in phase transitions occurs when the system Hamiltonian is symmetric under a certain transformation, but the equilibrium states observed in nature are not. Here, we prove that when a discrete symmetry is spontaneously broken in a quantum system, then the time evolution necessarily conserves two additional and non-commuting quantities, besides the one linked to the symmetry. This implies the existence of equilibrium states consisting in superpositions of macroscopic configurations. Then, we propose an experimental realization of such equilibrium states with the current state-of-the art in quantum technologies. Through numerical calculations, we show that they survive as very long-lived pre-thermal states, even very far away from the thermodynamic limit. Finally, we also show that a small symmetry-breaking perturbation in the Hamiltonian stabilizes the conservation of one of the two former quantities, implying that symmetry-breaking equilibrium states become stable even in small quantum systems.