English

Galilean boost invariance does not survive the trace: symmetry breaking in open quantum systems

Quantum Physics 2026-05-01 v1

Abstract

Tracing out a Galilean-invariant Caldeira-Leggett environment breaks Galilean boost covariance of the reduced dynamics, while spatial translations and rotations survive intact. An operator-level analysis of the exact Hu-Paz-Zhang master equation localizes the violation entirely in the dissipative anticommutator term, scaling with the damping coefficient Γ(t)f(t)\Gamma(t)f(t). The fluctuation-dissipation theorem ties this coefficient to the absorptive bath response that drives equilibrium momentum diffusion, so for any non-trivial bath spectral density bilinear-coupled Galilean invariance, the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, and reduced boost covariance cannot hold simultaneously. The stochastic decomposition of the influence functional extends the mechanism beyond the quadratic regime. The dimensionless ratio γ/kBT\hbar\gamma/k_\mathrm{B} T delineates the crossover: cold atoms in dissipative optical lattices and ultracold molecules sit at its edge. Parametric driving offers a one-directional escape: the squeezing rate that protects nonequilibrium entanglement above the standard quantum limit also suppresses boost-breaking over a driving cycle.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.27459,
  title  = {Galilean boost invariance does not survive the trace: symmetry breaking in open quantum systems},
  author = {Leonardo F. Calderón and Esteban Marulanda and Santiago Morales and Leonardo A. Pachón},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.27459},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

6 pages, 1 figure, Supplemental Material included