Past exam of the theoretical physics I course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / 3 / b / Solution

Treat $\psi ,{\psi }^{\ast }$ independently in the Legendre transform in mechanics. Their canonical momenta areThe time-derivative terms cancel in ${\pi }_{\psi }\dot{\psi }+{\pi }_{{\psi }^{\ast }}{\dot{\psi }}^{\ast }-\mathcal{L}$, giving the Hamiltonian densityThe first-order time dependence makes the momenta constrained; this direct calculation still gives the canonical density. In physical terms this is the grand-canonical Hamiltonian of a Bose field, $K=H-\mu N$. The physical energy density is obtained by adding $\mu |\psi {|}^2$ back. A stationary field in this chemical-potential frame has the usual factor $e^{-i\mu t/\hslash }$ in the physical frame.

Complete the square:For uniform or periodic boundary conditions, or in the homogeneous bulk, both nonconstant terms are nonnegative and vanish simultaneously atThe ground states form a circle. A particular nonzero ${\psi }_0$ is changed by every nontrivial phase rotation, although the full family is invariant. Selecting one such mean-field theory state therefore exhibits spontaneous symmetry breaking of $U(1)$. This describes phase selection in the thermodynamic limit; an exact finite-system particle-number eigenstate need not itself have a nonzero field expectation.