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Setting Limits on Supersymmetry Using Simplified Models
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Symmetry breaking in d-dimensional self-gravitating systems.

Renato Pakter1, Bruno Marcos2, Yan Levin1

  • 1Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Caixa Postal 15051, CEP 91501-970, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Physical Review Letters
|January 31, 2014
PubMed
Summary

Systems with long-range interactions avoid thermodynamic equilibrium, entering long-lived quasistationary states (QSS). This study presents a theory to predict when these states spontaneously break symmetry in self-gravitating systems.

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Area of Science:

  • Statistical mechanics
  • Astrophysical plasmas
  • Complex systems

Background:

  • Systems with long-range interactions, like self-gravitating clusters and plasmas, do not reach standard thermodynamic equilibrium.
  • They instead get trapped in quasistationary states (QSS) with lifetimes dependent on particle number.
  • Quasistationary states can exhibit broken symmetry, deviating from initial symmetric distributions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a theoretical framework for understanding symmetry breaking in quasistationary states.
  • To quantitatively predict the instability threshold for spontaneous symmetry breaking.
  • To analyze this phenomenon in d-dimensional self-gravitating systems.

Main Methods:

  • Theoretical analysis of systems with long-range interactions.
  • Investigation of ergodicity and its breakdown in quasistationary states.
  • Mathematical modeling of symmetry breaking in self-gravitating systems.

Main Results:

  • A theory is presented to quantitatively predict symmetry breaking.
  • The instability threshold for spontaneous symmetry breaking is identified.
  • The theory applies to a class of d-dimensional self-gravitating systems.

Conclusions:

  • Quasistationary states in long-range interacting systems are prone to spontaneous symmetry breaking.
  • The developed theory provides a predictive tool for this phenomenon.
  • Understanding symmetry breaking is crucial for characterizing the behavior of self-gravitating systems.