Choose a normalization in which the circle group has period and the U(1) charges of the complex scalar fields are integers. By restriction of a representation,
Write . A vacuum expectation value is preserved by precisely when . Therefore the specified finite cyclic group survives spontaneous symmetry breaking exactly when every condensing complex scalar field obeys
Only U(1) charges of fields with nonzero vacuum expectation values enter this test; in the paper all fields condense.
Suppose at least one condensing U(1) charge is nonzero and put . Since each such U(1) charge is a multiple of , every th root of unity preserves the vacuum expectation values. Conversely, the Bezout identity expresses as an integer combination of these U(1) charges, so a common stabilizer obeys . The discrete remnant of a circle symmetry is consequently
A nontrivial retained finite cyclic group exists exactly when , and its possible orders are the divisors of . For example, condensing U(1) charges and leave . If , the stabilizer is trivial. If all condensing U(1) charges vanish, the entire circle group is unbroken and there is no largest finite ; this case does not break the symmetry assumed in the question.