Abstract
Using the effective Lagrangian approach, we clarify general issues about Nambu-Goldstone bosons without Lorentz invariance. We show how to count their number and study their dispersion relations. Their number is less than the number of broken generators when some of them form canonically conjugate pairs. The pairing occurs when the generators have a nonzero expectation value of their commutator. For non-semi-simple algebras, central extensions are possible. The underlying geometry of the coset space in general is partially symplectic.
- Received 3 March 2012
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.251602
© 2012 American Physical Society
Synopsis
Counting Broken Symmetries
Published 21 June 2012
Theorists obtain a general theorem that predicts the number of Goldstone modes generated by spontaneous symmetry breaking in nonrelativistic systems.
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