Symmetry Breaking and Spectral Statistics of Acoustic Resonances in Quartz Blocks

Abstract

We study experimentally the spectral statistics of acoustic resonances in quartz blocks. About 1400 well resolved resonances are measured. The short range fluctuations are well described by random matrix theory. The properties of quartz allow us to measure the gradual breaking of a point-group symmetry. This is statistically fully equivalent to the breaking of a symmetrylike parity or isospin in a quantum system.