  We assume that the energy spectrum of a chaotic system undergoing symmetry
breaking transitions can be represented as a superposition of independent level
sequences, one increasing on the expense of the others. The relation between
the fractional level densities of the sequences and the symmetry breaking
interaction is deduced by comparing the asymptotic expression of the
level-number variance with the corresponding expression obtained using the
perturbation theory. This relation is supported by a comparison with previous
numerical calculations. The predictions of the model for the
nearest-neighbor-spacing distribution and the spectral rigidity are in
agreement with the results of an acoustic resonance experiment.

Statistical Mechanics