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Hydrodynamics as the effective field theory of strong-to-weak spontaneous symmetry breaking

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arxiv 2407.08760 v2 pith:TWFP56YV submitted 2024-07-09 cond-mat.str-el cond-mat.quant-gascond-mat.stat-mechquant-ph

classification cond-mat.str-elcond-mat.quant-gascond-mat.stat-mechquant-ph
keywords symmetryeffectivefieldtheorydiffusionswssbbreakingbroken
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
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Inspired by the hunt for new phases of matter in quantum mixed states, it has recently been proposed that the equivalence of microcanonical and canonical ensembles in statistical mechanics is a manifestation of strong-to-weak spontaneous symmetry breaking (SWSSB) in an underlying many-body quantum description. Here, we build an effective field theory for SWSSB of a global U(1) symmetry; the answer exactly reproduces the Schwinger-Keldysh effective field theory of diffusion for the conserved charge. We conclude that hydrodynamics can be understood as a theory of "superfluidity" for the broken strong symmetry: a non-vanishing susceptibility is a measurable order parameter for SWSSB, the diffusion mode is the Goldstone boson of the spontaneously broken continuous symmetry, and a generalization of Goldstone's Theorem implies that the diffusion mode is always long-lived. This perspective provides a transparent physical explanation for the unusual "reparameterization" symmetries which are a necessary ingredient of Schwinger-Keldysh effective field theories for "normal fluids".

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Cited by 4 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Effective field theory for dissipative photons from higher-form symmetries

    hep-th 2026-01 accept novelty 6.0 of 10

    A Schwinger-Keldysh effective action built on spontaneously broken higher-form symmetry gives dissipative Maxwell equations with an entropy current for photons in insulators.

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    In a Galilean-invariant quantum Hall crystal, nonlinear fluctuations destabilize the linear-response magnetophonon and drive its dynamical exponent from z=4 to z≈3.

  3. Schwinger-Keldysh effective action for hydrodynamics with approximate symmetries

    hep-th 2024-11 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    The axial charge relaxation coefficient in the Schwinger-Keldysh effective theory of QCD must be of second order in the quark mass, Γ_A = γ_A m_q^2, subleading in the broken phase and leading in the restored phase.

  4. Mixed-state phase transitions in spin-Holstein models

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    The phonon-traced ground state of a spin-Holstein cluster model is a bit-flip-corrupted cluster state whose von Neumann and Rényi-2 conditional mutual information detect SPT-to-trivial transitions at different couplings.

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