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Preprint . 2025
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Preprint . 2025
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Preprint . 2025
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ResearchGate Data
Preprint . 2025
Data sources: Datacite
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How Symmetry Survives Disorder: An Expectation-Value Perspective

Authors: Sakidja, Ridwan;

How Symmetry Survives Disorder: An Expectation-Value Perspective

Abstract

Symmetry is often treated as an exact microscopic property, even in systems with disorder and fluctuations. In realistic physical systems, however, individual configurations are generically distorted by noise or randomness. Here we examine how symmetry survives disorder by distinguishing between microscopic symmetry and symmetry realized in expectation values. Using numerical stress tests based on paraxial wave propagation, we study one-, two-, and three-dimensional disordered media with statistically symmetric but locally asymmetric refractive-index fluctuations. Individual realizations show strong, order-unity symmetry violation. In contrast, symmetry is robustly recovered in ensemble-averaged intensities, even in the presence of strong disorder. This behavior persists in genuinely three-dimensional random media with disorder varying along the propagation direction, demonstrating that symmetry recovery is not an artifact of reduced dimensionality. These results show that symmetry in disordered wave systems is a statistically stabilized property of observables rather than a microscopic constraint.

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Keywords

expectation values, statistical physics

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average
Green