Spontaneous symmetry breaking by axions?
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The original axion model has a global U(1)Peccei-Quinn symmetry which is spontaneously broken, but this has been ruled out. Nowadays people look at elaborated versions of the basic idea. A quick look at the Pospelov et al. preprint mentioned in the article shows they study a ZnZninvariant scalar.
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Spontaneous symmetry breaking is the process where a symmetry of a theory is not realized in the lowest energy configuration (known as the vacuum).
Symmetries are used to relate different objects together. For instance, a spin up particle is related to a spin down particle by a rotation of 180'. If spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs, then these relations are quite different.
The most interesting thing is that states that were once related by a symmetry are still related, but in a more complicated fashion -- known as non-linearly realized symmetries.
In that sense, spontaneous symmetry breaking is a a misnomer: the symmetry isn't broken, just transformed.
Symmetries are used to relate different objects together. For instance, a spin up particle is related to a spin down particle by a rotation of 180'. If spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs, then these relations are quite different.
The most interesting thing is that states that were once related by a symmetry are still related, but in a more complicated fashion -- known as non-linearly realized symmetries.
In that sense, spontaneous symmetry breaking is a a misnomer: the symmetry isn't broken, just transformed.
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