Symmetry figures in many physical phenomena. Existence itself is dependent upon symmetry and its breaking.
Fermions are those bits of quantum matter upon which Nature manifests. By contrast, bosons are the immaterial quanta which are the movers and shapers of fermions.
Bosons can act upon fermions because they can have no sense of personal space. Fermions cannot occupy the same location because these bits have an asymmetrical spin. Contrastingly, bosons may roam as they please owing to their symmetrical spin. Quantum spin is the direction of internal angular momentum of a quantized energy field relative to the direction of its linear momentum.
Symmetry plays a key role in many facets of Nature. The symmetrical mathematics which characterize quantum phenomena can only manifest by breaking symmetry.
The emergence of asymmetry is critical in other ways. “Symmetry breaking – the phenomenon in which the symmetry of a system is not inherited by its stable states – underlies pattern formation, superconductivity and numerous other effects,” notes Brazilian American physicist Adilson Motter & Japanese American physicist Takashi Nishikawa.
Synchronization is the temporal manifestation of entangled symmetry. “Synchronization has been observed in many contexts, including both natural systems (for example, circadian clock cells, ecological populations, human menstrual cycles, and crowds of pedestrians) and engineered systems (for example, Boolean logic gates, semiconductor lasers, electrochemical and nanomechanical oscillators, and power generators). Approximately homogeneous dynamics can emerge in heterogeneous populations,” explain Motter & Nishikawa. This converse symmetry breaking – where symmetry or synchronization appear in systems which are not symmetric – has been observed at the quantum level and at larger scales.
Motter and his collaborators separated 3 identical electric generators, each oscillating at a frequency of exactly 100 cycles per second. When connected in a triangular configuration, their frequencies diverged – but only until the generators were tuned to different energy dissipations, whereupon they spontaneously synchronized again. “This can be visualized by putting a small lamp between each pair of generators,” explained physicist Ferenc Molar. “When the generators are identical, the lamp flickers, meaning that the generators are not synchronized. But when the generators’ dissipation is tweaked to different levels, the flickering stops, indicating that the generator voltages are oscillating in sync.”
Entanglement and synchronization are only possible because the necessary information to behave so is instantaneously available – space being no barrier. The natural force of coherence proceeds under certain principles which are counterintuitive or inscrutable to the way our minds want to construe Nature. Numerous phenomena indicate that spacetime and matter are illusory – the primordial constructs by which the mind perceives.
Further, symmetry and its breaking – albeit while maintaining a perceptual balance – are an essential attribute of aesthetics. For instance, faces with mostly symmetrical features are considered the most attractive, and even more so when there are subtle breaks in symmetry.
References:
Ishi Nobu, Unraveling Reality: Behind the Veil of Existence, BookBaby (2019).
Ferenc Mohlnar, “Network experiment demonstrates converse symmetry breaking,” Nature Physics (20 January 2020).
“Physics shows that imperfections make perfect,” Phys.org (20 January 2020).
Ishi Nobu, “Quantum entanglement,” (17 January 2020).
Ishi Nobu, “Energy transmission optimality,” (17 December 2019).