Spontaneous symmetry breaking in a driven-dissipative system

TL;DR

This paper reports an experiment demonstrating spontaneous symmetry breaking in a driven-dissipative system, specifically observing the temporal phase splitting into two distinct states differing by π, which advances understanding of symmetry dynamics in such systems.

Contribution

The study provides the first direct experimental observation of spontaneous temporal symmetry breaking in a driven-dissipative system, highlighting new dynamics in symmetry phenomena.

Findings

Observation of temporal phase splitting into two states differing by π

Demonstration of spontaneous symmetry breaking in a driven system

Advancement in understanding symmetry dynamics in non-equilibrium systems

Abstract

Spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) is a key concept in physics that for decades has played a crucial role in the description of many physical phenomena in a large number of different areas, like particle physics, cosmology, and condensed-matter physics. SSB is thus an ubiquitous concept connecting several, both "high" and "low" energy, areas of physics and many textbooks describe its basic features in great detail. However, to study the dynamics of symmetry breaking in the laboratory is extremely difficult. In condensed-matter physics, for example, tiny external disturbances cause a preference for the breaking of the symmetry in a particular configuration and typically those disturbances cannot be avoided in experiments. Notwithstanding these complications, here we describe an experiment, in which we directly observe the spontaneous breaking of the temporal phase of a driven system with respect to the drive into two distinct values differing by $\pi$.