- #1
JosephButler
- 18
- 0
Hello everyone, I'm a bit confused by something I've read as have been unable to find resources to clarify it. Here is the statement that confused me, from Binetruy's Supersymmetry textbook (p.26):
Why can there be no spontaneous symmetry breaking in finite volume? Why can one only take superpositions of ground states in finite volume?
Thanks,
JB
It is well-known that [in the case of ordinary continuous symmetries] no possibility of spontaneous symmetry breaking in a finite volume. Through superposition, the ground state can always be made invariant under the symmetry because mixing between states is always possible in finite volume. It is only in the infinite volume limit that one may define unmixed ground states in spontaneously broken symmetry.
Why can there be no spontaneous symmetry breaking in finite volume? Why can one only take superpositions of ground states in finite volume?
Thanks,
JB