Linking emergent phenomena and broken symmetries through one-dimensional objects and their dot/cross products

TL;DR

This paper introduces a symmetry-based framework using one-dimensional objects and their dot/cross products to connect emergent phenomena with broken symmetries, offering new insights for materials design.

Contribution

It develops a novel symmetry analysis method employing 1D objects and their algebraic structures to relate physical phenomena to symmetry properties in experimental setups.

Findings

Eight types of 1D objects characterized by symmetry.

Dot products form a Z2xZ2xZ2 group; cross products form Z2xZ2 or Q8 groups.

Symmetry Operational Similarity enables phenomena prediction in 3D specimens.

Abstract

The symmetry of the whole experimental setups, including specific sample environments and measurables, can be compared with that of specimens for observable physical phenomena. We, first, focus on one-dimensional (1D) experimental setups, independent from any spatial rotation around one direction, and show that eight kinds of 1D objects (four; vectorlike, the other four; director-like), defined in terms of symmetry, and their dot and cross products are an effective way for the symmetry consideration. The dot products form a Z2xZ2xZ2 group with Abelian additive operation, and the cross products form a Z2xZ2 group with Abelian additive operation or Q8, a non-abelian group of order eight, depending on their signs. Those 1D objects are associated with characteristic physical phenomena. When a 3D specimen has Symmetry Operational Similarity (SOS) with (identical or lower, but not higher, symmetries than) an 1D object with a particular phenomenon, the 3D specimen can exhibit the phenomenon. This SOS approach can be a transformative and unconventional avenue for symmetry-guided materials designs and discoveries.