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Symmetry and Symmetry Breaking in Quantum Mechanics II

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A special issue of Symmetry (ISSN 2073-8994). This special issue belongs to the section "Physics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2019) | Viewed by 2586

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Mohamed Azzouz

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Guest Editor

Aerospace Engineering School, International University of Rabat, Campus de l’UIR, Parc Technopolis, Rocade de Rabat-Salé, 11100-Sala Al Jadida - Maroc
Interests: condensed-matter physics theory; high-temperature superconductivity; quantum spin systems; quantum crtitcality; numerical modeling; rotating antiferromagnetism
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There is no doubt that symmetry plays one of the most important roles in physics. Symmetry breaking is also a very interesting and essential phenomenon in both condensed matter physics and high-energy physics. The recently-discovered Higgs boson is the most famous consequence of symmetry breaking. Things got even more interesting lately with the proposal of hidden order that could arise from some sort of hidden symmetry breaking, as proposed for the explanation of the pseudogap state of the high-T_C cuprate materials. Additionally, the role of symmetry in topological phases of matter has recently gained a tremendous importance with the discovery of topological insulators for example. This Special Issue welcomes manuscripts from all areas of quantum physics where symmetry and/or symmetry breaking occur.

Prof. Dr. Mohamed Azzouz
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Symmetry is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Group theory and symmetry
Spin liquids, disordered quantum states
Symmetry breaking
ordered states
Hidden order and hidden symmetry breaking
Symmetry in topological phases
Translation, parity, time reversal symmetries
Gauge symmetries
Quantum criticality
Symmetry and spintronics

Published Papers (1 paper)

Research

9 pages, 5219 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Topological Monopoles in Quantum Antiferromagnets

by Mohamed Azzouz

Symmetry 2019, 11(3), 323; https://doi.org/10.3390/sym11030323 - 05 Mar 2019

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Abstract

While the observation of magnetic monopoles has defied all experimental attempts in high-energy physics and astrophysics, sound theoretical approaches predict that they should exist, and they have indeed been observed as quasiparticle excitations in certain condensed-matter systems. This indicates that, even though they are not ubiquitous contrary to electrons, it is possible to get them as excitations above a background. In this report, we show that phonons or lattice shear strain generate topological monopoles in some low-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets. For the Heisenberg ladder, phonons are found to generate topological monopoles with nonzero density due to quantum spin fluctuations. For the four-leg Heisenberg tube, longitudinal shear stress generates topological monopoles with density proportional to the strain deformation. The present theory is based on mapping the spin degrees of freedom onto spinless fermions using the generalized Jordan–Wigner transformation in dimensions higher than one. The effective magnetic field generated by the motion of the spinless fermions has nonzero divergence when phonons or shear stress are present. A possible material where the present kind of monopoles could be observed is BiCu