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Mike2
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What is this symmetry breaking process I keep hearing about?
Mike2 said:What is this symmetry breaking process I keep hearing about?
Haelfix said:The Anderson-Higgs mechanism does indeed involve spontaneously broken symmetry.
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I wouldn't necessarily call it a topological event *abus de language* perse, its just that the naive form of the potential term contains false vacuum parts, local minima that are not necessarily global. Think of the usual mexican hat potential.
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Mike2 said:I'd like to quote from ranyart's second link: "After a time the Higgs fields started to decay, to change from zero to non-zero values. This is called spontaneous symmetry breaking. Bubbles of true vacuum (that is, totally empty regions) appeared inside the false vacuum of the Macrocosmos as the symmetry of the fields was spontaneously broken. Within each bubble the Higgs fields spontaneously took on unpredictable values. Inflation continued for a while within each bubble as it moved from the false to the true vacuum."
"true vacuum,... false vacuum"... intriguing. "bubbles of true vacuum" certainly sounds like "space tearing" and forming some sort of boundary to normal space that is then interpreted as resulting in mass, does it not? Is there any mention made about a possible connection between the Higgs mechanism and space tearing? I don't remember where I heard about space tearing, but it was back in the mid to late 80's, if I recall.
My second question was whether it was an abuse of language to call some topological property that applies to all of normal space (the false vacuum) but does not apply for the true vacuum. Is symmetry broken at the boundary between them. I'm thinking of points in normal space being elements of an open neighborhood, but points on the boundary being elements of a half open set. I think that's the verbage for this.
Comments welcome. Thanks.
Symmetry breaking is a concept in physics and mathematics where a system that exhibits symmetry at a macroscopic level appears to lose that symmetry at a microscopic level. This phenomenon occurs when a force or influence causes the system to choose one particular state or direction over another, breaking the symmetry of the system.
Symmetry breaking can occur in a variety of ways, depending on the system. In physics, it can occur through the Higgs mechanism, where the Higgs field gives particles mass and breaks the symmetry between different types of particles. In mathematics, it can occur through the spontaneous breaking of a continuous symmetry, where the system settles into one of many possible states.
Symmetry breaking is significant because it helps explain how the universe and its laws are structured. It plays a crucial role in particle physics, cosmology, and condensed matter physics, helping scientists understand the fundamental forces and interactions that govern our world.
In some cases, symmetry breaking can be reversed. For example, in phase transitions, a system can undergo a reverse symmetry breaking when conditions change. However, in other cases, such as the Higgs mechanism, symmetry breaking is irreversible.
Symmetry breaking is closely related to spontaneous symmetry breaking, as it is a type of spontaneous symmetry breaking. The term "spontaneous" refers to the fact that the system chooses one particular state without any external influence. This occurs when the potential energy of the system is minimized, leading to a stable state with broken symmetry.