Wulferding Dirk, Park Jongho, Tohyama Takami, Park Seung Ryong, Kim Changyoung
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Center for Nanoparticle Research, Institute for Basic Science, Seoul, Korea.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jan 2;16(1):114. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-55355-y.
Understanding how symmetry-breaking processes generate order out of disorder is among the most fundamental problems of nature. The scalar Higgs mode - a massive (quasi-) particle - is a key ingredient in these processes and emerges with the spontaneous breaking of a continuous symmetry. Its related exotic and elusive axial counterpart, a Boson with vector character, can be stabilized through the simultaneous breaking of multiple continuous symmetries. Here, we employ a magnetic field to tune the recently discovered axial Higgs-type charge-density wave amplitude modes in rare-earth tritellurides. We demonstrate a proportionality between the axial Higgs component and the applied field, and a 90° phase shift upon changing the direction of the magnetic field. This indicates that the axial character is directly related to magnetic degrees of freedom. Our approach opens up an in-situ control over the axial character of emergent Higgs modes.
理解对称性破缺过程如何从无序中产生有序是自然界最基本的问题之一。标量希格斯模式——一种有质量的（准）粒子——是这些过程中的关键要素，它随着连续对称性的自发破缺而出现。其相关的奇异且难以捉摸的轴向对应物，一种具有矢量特性的玻色子，可以通过多个连续对称性的同时破缺而稳定下来。在此，我们利用磁场来调控最近在稀土三碲化物中发现的轴向希格斯型电荷密度波振幅模式。我们证明了轴向希格斯分量与外加磁场之间的比例关系，以及在改变磁场方向时出现的90°相移。这表明轴向特性与磁自由度直接相关。我们的方法开启了对涌现的希格斯模式轴向特性的原位控制。
