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Updated: Jul 31, 2026

Quantum State Engineering of Light with Continuous-wave Optical Parametric Oscillators
Published on: May 30, 2014
An intrinsic limit to quantum coherence due to spontaneous symmetry breaking
Jasper van Wezel1, Jeroen van den Brink, Jan Zaanen
1Institute-Lorentz for Theoretical Physics, Universiteit Leiden, P.O. Box 9506, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
We investigate the influence of spontaneous symmetry breaking on the decoherence of a many-particle quantum system. This decoherence process is analyzed in an exactly solvable model system that is known to be representative of symmetry broken macroscopic systems in equilibrium. It is shown that spontaneous symmetry breaking imposes a fundamental limit to the time that a system can stay quantum coherent. This universal time scale is t(spon) approximately = 2piNH/(kBT), given in terms of the number of microscopic degrees of freedom N, temperature T, and the constants of Planck (h) and Boltzmann (kB).
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