Spontaneous symmetry breaking in finite systems and anomalous order-parameter correlations

Abstract: We show that the spontaneous symmetry breaking can be defined also for finite systems based on the properly defined jump probability between the ground states in the 2d and 3d Ising models on a square and a cubic lattice respectively. Our analysis reveals the existence of an interval in the temperature (control parameter) space within which the spontaneous symmetry breaking takes place. The upper limit of this region is the pseudocritical point where the symmetric vacuum bifurcates in energetically degenerate non-symmetric vacua, initiating the spontaneous symmetry breaking process. The lower limit, identified as the temperature value at which the spontaneous symmetry breaking is completed, is characterized by maximal characteristic time for the decay of magnetization (order parameter) auto-correlations. We argue that this anomalous enhancement of auto-correlations is attributed to the transition from type I to on-off intermittency in the order parameter dynamics. Possible phenomenological implications of this behaviour are briefly discussed.