Spontanous Symmetry breaking in a one-dimensional driven many-particle system

A one-dimensional driven two-species model with parallel sublattice update and open boundaries is considered. Although the microscopic many-body dynamics is symmetric with respect to the two species and interactions are short-ranged, there is a region in parameter space with broken symmetry in the steady state.

The symmetry breaking can be shown to be the result of an amplification mechanism of fluctuations. In contrast to previously considered models, this leads to a proof for spontaneous symmetry breaking which is valid throughout the whole region in parameter space with a symmetry broken steady state.