On gauge invariance and spontaneous symmetry breaking

On gauge invariance and spontaneous symmetry breaking

We show how the widely used concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking can be explained in causal perturbation theory by introducing a perturbative version of quantum gauge invariance. Perturbative gauge invariance, formulated exclusively by means of asymptotic fields, is discussed for the simple example of Abelian U(1) gauge theory (Abelian Higgs model). Our findings are relevant for the electro...

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in gauge theories.

The aim of this historical article is to describe the development of the idea of spontaneous symmetry breaking in gauge theories as seen from my perspective as a member of Abdus Salam's group at Imperial College London, UK. Beginning with an account of particle physics in the years after the Second World War, I describe early attempts at constructing a unified theory of weak and electromagnetic...

Gauge Invariance and Symmetry Breaking by Topology and Energy Gap

For the description of observables and states of a quantum system, it may be convenient to use a canonical Weyl algebra of which only a subalgebra A, with a non-trivial center Z , describes observables, the other Weyl operators playing the role of intertwiners between inequivalent representations ofA. In particular, this gives rise to a gauge symmetry described by the action of Z . A distinguis...

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in gauge theories via Bose-Einstein condensation

We propose a mechanism naturally leading to the spontaneous symmetry breaking in a gauge theory. The Higgs field is assumed to have global and gauged internal symmetries. We associate a non zero chemical potential to one of the globally conserved charges commuting with all of the gauge transformations. This induces a negative mass squared for the Higgs field triggering the spontaneous symmetry ...

U ( 1 ) c gauge models with spontaneous symmetry breaking