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Autori principali: Liu, Ruizhi, Yi, Jinmin, Else, Dominic V.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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Accesso online:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.28925
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author Liu, Ruizhi
Yi, Jinmin
Else, Dominic V.
author_facet Liu, Ruizhi
Yi, Jinmin
Else, Dominic V.
contents In mixed states of quantum systems, symmetries come in two types: strong and weak. Furthermore, it has been argued that in quantum many-body systems, strong symmetries can be "spontaneously broken" down to weak symmetries. An issue is that as previously formulated, such "strong-to-weak symmetry breaking" appears to be a fairly non-local effect. In this paper, we show how to understand and diagnose strong symmetries and strong-to-weak symmetry breaking in an explicitly local way. Our main technical tool is a rigorous definition of strong symmetry in the limit of infinite volume, which generalizes the conventional finite-volume definitions, and for which we give several equivalent formulations, including one involving the concept of "local charge coherence". Finally, we introduce von Neumann systems, which in infinite-volume symmetries are intermediate between strong and weak symmetries. We derive a Lieb-Schultz-Mattis type anomaly constraint for von Neumann symmetries (and therefore, in particular, strong symmetries) in quantum spin chains.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_28925
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A local description of strong symmetries and strong-to-weak symmetry breaking in quantum many-body systems
Liu, Ruizhi
Yi, Jinmin
Else, Dominic V.
Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
Mathematical Physics
In mixed states of quantum systems, symmetries come in two types: strong and weak. Furthermore, it has been argued that in quantum many-body systems, strong symmetries can be "spontaneously broken" down to weak symmetries. An issue is that as previously formulated, such "strong-to-weak symmetry breaking" appears to be a fairly non-local effect. In this paper, we show how to understand and diagnose strong symmetries and strong-to-weak symmetry breaking in an explicitly local way. Our main technical tool is a rigorous definition of strong symmetry in the limit of infinite volume, which generalizes the conventional finite-volume definitions, and for which we give several equivalent formulations, including one involving the concept of "local charge coherence". Finally, we introduce von Neumann systems, which in infinite-volume symmetries are intermediate between strong and weak symmetries. We derive a Lieb-Schultz-Mattis type anomaly constraint for von Neumann symmetries (and therefore, in particular, strong symmetries) in quantum spin chains.
title A local description of strong symmetries and strong-to-weak symmetry breaking in quantum many-body systems
topic Quantum Physics
Statistical Mechanics
Mathematical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.28925