Symmetry Breaking and the Geometry of Reduced Density Matrices

Abstract

The concept of symmetry breaking and the emergence of corresponding local order parameters constitute the pillars of modern day many body physics. The theory of quantum entanglement is currently leading to a paradigm shift in understanding quantum correlations in many body systems and in this work we show how symmetry breaking can be understood from this wavefunction centered point of view. We demonstrate that the existence of symmetry breaking is a consequence of the geometric structure of the convex set of reduced density matrices of all possible many body wavefunctions. The surfaces of those convex bodies exhibit non-analytic behavior in the form of ruled surfaces, which turn out to be the defining signatures for the emergence of symmetry breaking and of an associated order parameter. We illustrate this by plotting the convex sets arising in the context of three paradigmatic examples of many body systems exhibiting symmetry breaking: the quantum Ising model in transverse magnetic field, exhibiting a second order quantum phase transition; the classical Ising model at finite temperature in two dimensions, which orders below a critical temperature $T_c$; and a system of free bosons at finite temperature in three dimensions, exhibiting the phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation together with an associated order parameter $\langle\psi\rangle$. Remarkably, these convex sets look all very much alike. We believe that this wavefunction based way of looking at phase transitions demystifies the emergence of order parameters and provides a unique novel tool for studying exotic quantum phenomena.