Re-Interpretation of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking in Quantum Field Theory and Goldstone Theorem

Abstract

We present a new picture of global symmetry breaking in quantum field theory and propose a novel realization of symmetry breaking phenomena in terms of the conserved charge associated with its symmetry. In particular, the fermion condensate of the vacuum state is examined when the spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking takes place. It is shown that the fermion condensate of the vacuum vanishes if the system is solved exactly, and therefore we cannot make use of the Goldstone theorem. As a perfect example, we present the Bethe ansatz vacuum of the Thirring model which shows the spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking with no fermion condensate.