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Symmetry breaking in physics
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
 describes a phenomenon
Phenomenon

A phenomenon is any observation occurrence. In popular usage, a phenomenon often refers to an extraordinary event. In physics, a phenomenon may be a feature of matter, energy, or spacetime....
 where (infinitesimally) small fluctuations acting on a system
System

System is a set of interacting or interdependent entities, real or abstract, forming an integrated whole.The concept of an "integrated whole" can also be stated in terms of a system embodying a set of relationships which are differentiated from relationships of the set to other elements, and from relationships between an element of the se...
 crossing a critical point decide a system's fate, by determining which branch of a bifurcation
Bifurcation theory

Bifurcation theory is the Mathematics study of changes in the qualitative or topological structure of a given family. Examples of such families are the integral curves of a family of vector field or, the solutions of a family of differential equation....
 is taken. For an outside observer unaware of the fluctuations (the "noise"), the choice will appear arbitrary. This process is called symmetry
Symmetry

Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically-pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection....
 "breaking", because such transitions usually bring the system from a disorderly
Randomness

Randomness is a lack of order, purpose, Causality, or predictability. Randomness as defined by Aristotle is the situation, when a choice is to be made which has no logical component by which to determine or make the choice ....
 state
State (physics)

In physics,the term state is used in several related senses,each expressing something about the way a physical system ontology.#In the sense state of matter, state describes the organization of matter in a phase....
 into one of two more ordered, less probable states.






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Symmetry breaking in physics
Physics

Physics is the natural science which examines basic concepts such as energy, force, and spacetime and all that derives from these, such as mass, charge, matter and its Motion ....
 describes a phenomenon
Phenomenon

A phenomenon is any observation occurrence. In popular usage, a phenomenon often refers to an extraordinary event. In physics, a phenomenon may be a feature of matter, energy, or spacetime....
 where (infinitesimally) small fluctuations acting on a system
System

System is a set of interacting or interdependent entities, real or abstract, forming an integrated whole.The concept of an "integrated whole" can also be stated in terms of a system embodying a set of relationships which are differentiated from relationships of the set to other elements, and from relationships between an element of the se...
 crossing a critical point decide a system's fate, by determining which branch of a bifurcation
Bifurcation theory

Bifurcation theory is the Mathematics study of changes in the qualitative or topological structure of a given family. Examples of such families are the integral curves of a family of vector field or, the solutions of a family of differential equation....
 is taken. For an outside observer unaware of the fluctuations (the "noise"), the choice will appear arbitrary. This process is called symmetry
Symmetry

Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically-pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection....
 "breaking", because such transitions usually bring the system from a disorderly
Randomness

Randomness is a lack of order, purpose, Causality, or predictability. Randomness as defined by Aristotle is the situation, when a choice is to be made which has no logical component by which to determine or make the choice ....
 state
State (physics)

In physics,the term state is used in several related senses,each expressing something about the way a physical system ontology.#In the sense state of matter, state describes the organization of matter in a phase....
 into one of two more ordered, less probable states. Since disorder is more symmetric in the sense that small variations to it don't change its overall appearance, the symmetry gets "broken".

Symmetry breaking is supposed to play a major role in pattern formation
Pattern formation

The science of pattern formation deals with the visible, Similarity outcomes of self-organisation and the common principles behind similar patterns....
.

In particular, we can distinguish between:
  • An explicit symmetry breaking
    Explicit symmetry breaking

    Explicit symmetry breaking indicates a situation where the dynamical equations are not manifestly invariant under the symmetry group considered....
     happens when the laws describing a system are themselves not invariant under the symmetry in question.
  • Spontaneous symmetry breaking
    Spontaneous symmetry breaking

    In physics, spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs when a system that is symmetry in physics with respect to some symmetry group goes into a vacuum state that is not symmetric....
     describes the case where the laws are invariant but it appears the system isn't because the background of the system, its vacuum
    Vacuum

    A vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty," but in reality, no volume of space can ever be perfectly empty....
    , is noninvariant. Such a symmetry breaking is parametrized by an order parameter. A special case of this type of symmetry breaking is dynamical symmetry breaking
    Dynamical symmetry breaking

    In condensed matter physics and particle physics, dynamical symmetry breaking is a form of spontaneous symmetry breaking which does not show up at the tree level....
    .


In 1972, Nobel laureate
Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in chemistry, Nobel Prize in literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine....
 P.W.Anderson
Philip Warren Anderson

Philip Warren Anderson is an United States physicist and Nobel laureate. Anderson has made contributions to the theories of Anderson localization, antiferromagnetism and high-temperature superconductivity....
 used the idea of Symmetry breaking to show some of the drawbacks of Reductionism
Reductionism

Reductionism can either mean an approach to understanding the nature of complex things by reducing them to the interactions of their parts, or to simpler or more fundamental things or a philosophical position that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts, and that an account of it can be reduced to accounts of individual consti...
 in his paper titled More is different in Science.

See also

Higgs mechanism
Higgs mechanism

In quantum field theory, the Higgs mechanism is a way that the massless gauge bosons in a gauge theory get a mass by interacting with a background Higgs field....
 QCD vacuum
QCD vacuum

The QCD vacuum is the vacuum state of quantum chromodynamics . It is an example of a non-perturbative vacuum state, characterized by many non-vanishing condensate s such as the gluon condensate or the quark condensate....
 Goldstone boson
Goldstone boson

In particle physics and condensed matter physics, Goldstone bosons are bosons that appear in models with spontaneously broken symmetry. First formulated by Jeffrey Goldstone, the Goldstone bosons correspond to the broken symmetry generators ? they can be thought of as the excitations of the field in the symmetric "directions" ? and are mass...