2000/03/14 by A. Acus, Acus, A.
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #General Physics (physics.gen-ph) #Mechanical and Optical Resonators #Physics Education (physics.ed-ph) #Popular Physics (physics.pop-ph) #Protein Structure and Dynamics #physics.ed-ph #physics.gen-ph #physics.pop-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.physics/0003030
3 pages, 6 figures
arxiv created 2000/03/14 · openalex publication_date 2000/03/14 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Spontaneous symmetry breaking occurs when the symmetry that a physical system possesses, is not preserved for the ground state of the system. Although the procedure of symmetry breaking is quite clear from the mathematical point of view, the physical interpretation of the phenomenon is worth to be better understood. In this note we present a simple and instructive example of the symmetry breaking in a mechanical system. It demonstrates that the spontaneous symmetry breaking can occur for the spatially extended solutions in a potential characterised by a single minimum.