μ-Symmetry breaking: an algebraic approach to finding mean fields of quantum many-body systems

One of the most fundamental problems in quantum many-body systems is the identification of a mean field in spontaneous symmetry breaking which is usually made in a heuristic manner. We propose a systematic method of finding a mean field based on the Lie algebra and the dynamical symmetry by introducing a class of symmetry broken phases which we call $\mu$-symmetry breaking. We show that for $\mu$-symmetry breaking the quadratic part of an effective Lagrangian of Nambu-Goldstone modes can be block-diagonalized and that homotopy groups of topological excitations can be calculated systematically.