wdlang said:in atomic physics, sometimes one would encounter the termilogy ''ground state manifold''
my question is, the ground state of an atom is usually unique
How come the ''ground state manifold''?
It means several nearly degenerate level?
are these level stable?
wdlang said:no, it has nothing to do with symmetry spontaneous breaking
the manifold usually consists of just finite levels
they may all belong to the l=2 subspace, so the dimension is just 5.
thanks for your interests anyway.
wdlang said:in atomic physics, sometimes one would encounter the termilogy ''ground state manifold''
my question is, the ground state of an atom is usually unique
The "ground state manifold" refers to the set of all possible states of a physical system that have the lowest possible energy. This includes the lowest energy state as well as any degenerate states with the same energy level.
Puzzles about the ground state manifold often involve finding the lowest energy state of a system or understanding the possible states and their energies within the manifold. These puzzles can also be used to study and understand complex physical systems.
All physical systems have a ground state manifold. It is a fundamental concept in quantum mechanics and can be applied to a wide range of systems, including atoms, molecules, and solids.
The ground state of a system is determined by solving the Schrödinger equation, which describes the wave function of a quantum system. This equation takes into account the potential energy and interactions between particles in the system to determine the lowest energy state.
Puzzles about the ground state manifold have practical applications in fields such as materials science, chemistry, and physics. They can be used to understand and design new materials, study the behavior of atoms and molecules, and develop new technologies such as quantum computing.