Diagnosing strong-to-weak symmetry breaking via Wightman correlators
Abstract Symmetry plays a fundamental role in quantum many-body physics, and a central concept is spontaneous symmetry breaking. Recent developments highlight new symmetry-breaking patterns known as strong-to-weak spontaneous symmetry breaking, characterized by two different order parameters: the fi...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Communications Physics |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-025-02199-7 |
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| Summary: | Abstract Symmetry plays a fundamental role in quantum many-body physics, and a central concept is spontaneous symmetry breaking. Recent developments highlight new symmetry-breaking patterns known as strong-to-weak spontaneous symmetry breaking, characterized by two different order parameters: the fidelity correlator and the Rényi-2 correlator which are inequivalent. In this work, we propose the Wightman correlator as an alternative diagnostic tool. This construction relies on the introduction of the thermofield double state for a generic density matrix, which maps the strong symmetry of the density matrix to the doubled symmetry of the pure state, allowing the Wightman correlator to emerge naturally as a standard probe of symmetry breaking. We prove the equivalence between the Wightman correlator and the fidelity correlator, and examine explicit examples. Additionally, we discuss a susceptibility interpretation of the Wightman correlator. The validity of Wightman correlator has wide applications for understanding strong-to-weak spontaneous symmetry breaking. |
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| ISSN: | 2399-3650 |