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Although it originated in quantum physics, the concept of $n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\ensuremath{-}H\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}m\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}c\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}y$ (particularly involving a Hamiltonian with $b\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}l\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}c\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}d$ gain and loss, and thus $P\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}T$ symmetry and an exceptional point in frequency space) can also play a key role in classical systems, including those in acoustics. By incorporating suitably engineered gain or loss media, both cavity and scattering acoustic systems can produce a series of intriguing wave phenomena, with prospects for application in the design of innovative functional devices. This review aims to introduce the pedagogical models and recent achievements in this field, in the hope of being useful to a diverse audience.

We demonstrate that crystal defects can act as a probe of intrinsic non-Hermitian topology. In particular, in point-gapped systems with periodic boundary conditions, a pair of dislocations may induce a non-Hermitian skin effect, where an extensive number of Hamiltonian eigenstates localize at only one of the two dislocations. An example of such a phase are two-dimensional systems exhibiting weak non-Hermitian topology, which are adiabatically related to a decoupled stack of Hatano-Nelson chains. Moreover, we show that strong two-dimensional point-gap topology may also result in a dislocation response, even when there is no skin effect present with open boundary conditions. For both cases, we directly relate their bulk topology to a stable dislocation non-Hermitian skin effect. Finally, and in stark contrast to the Hermitian case, we find that gapless non-Hermitian systems hosting bulk exceptional points also give rise to a well-localized dislocation response., 6 pages, 4 figures, supplement included, accepted manuscript

Non-Hermitian topological phases exhibit a number of exotic features that have no Hermitian counterparts, including the skin effect and breakdown of the conventional bulk-boundary correspondence. Here, we implement the non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) Hamiltonian, which is a prototypical model for studying non-Hermitian topological phases, with a solid-state quantum simulator consisting of an electron spin and a $^{13}$C nuclear spin in a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in a diamond. By employing a dilation method, we realize the desired non-unitary dynamics for the electron spin and map out its spin texture in the momentum space, from which the corresponding topological invariant can be obtained directly. Our result paves the way for further exploiting and understanding the intriguing properties of non-Hermitian topological phases with solid-state spins or other quantum simulation platforms., 10 pages, 6 figures

Dispersionless bands -- flatbands -- have been actively studied thanks to their interesting properties and sensitivity to perturbations, which makes them natural candidates for exotic states. In parallel non-Hermitian systems have attracted much attention in the recent years as a simplified description of open system with gain or loss motivated by potential applications. In particular, non-Hermitian system with dispersionless energy bands in their spectrum have been studied theoretically and experimentally. Flatbands require in general fine-tuning of Hamiltonian or protection by a symmetry. A number of methods was introduced to construct non-Hermitian flatbands relying either on a presence of a symmetry, or specific frustrated geometries, often inspired by Hermitian models. We discuss a systematic method of construction of non-Hermitian flatbands using 1D two band tight-binding networks as an example, extending the methods used to construct systematically Hermitian flatbands. We show that the non-Hermitian case admits fine-tuned, non-symmetry protected flatbands and provides more types of flatbands than the Hermitian case., Comment: 14 pagers, 4 figures

In recent research, it has been shown that non-Hermitian systems exhibit sensitivity to boundaries, and it is caused by the non-Hermitian skin effect. In this work, we construct the non-Bloch band theory in bosonic Bogoliubov--de Gennes (BdG) systems. From our theory, we can calculate the generalized Brillouin zone and the energy spectrum in such systems with open boundary conditions in the thermodynamic limit, and we can thus discuss its non-Hermitian nature, despite Hermiticity of an original Hamiltonian. In fact, we find that the bosonic Kitaev-Majorana chain exhibits rich aspects of the non-Hermitian skin effect, such as instability against infinitesimal perturbations and reentrant behavior, in terms of the non-Bloch band theory. This result indicates that our theory is powerful tool for studying non-Hermitian nature in bosonic BdG systems., 9 pages, 3 figures

The problem of the time of arrival of a quantum system in a specified state is considered in the framework of the repeated measurement protocol and in particular the limit of continuous measurements is discussed. It is shown that for a particular choice of system-detector coupling, the Zeno effect is avoided and the system can be described effectively by a non-Hermitian effective Hamiltonian. As a specific example we consider the evolution of a quantum particle on a one-dimensional lattice that is subjected to position measurements at a specific site. By solving the corresponding non-Hermitian wave function evolution equation, we present analytic closed-form results on the survival probability and the first arrival time distribution. Finally we discuss the limit of vanishing lattice spacing and show that this leads to a continuum description where the particle evolves via the free Schrodinger equation with complex Robin boundary conditions at the detector site. Several interesting physical results for this dynamics are presented., Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures

A broad family of phase transitions in the closed as well as open quantum systems is known to be mediated by a non-Hermitian degeneracy (a.k.a. exceptional point, EP) of the Hamiltonian. In the EP limit, in general, the merger of an $N-$plet of the energy eigenvalues is accompanied by a parallel (though not necessarily complete) degeneracy of eigenstates (forming an EP-asociated $K-$plet; in mathematics, $K$ is called the geometric multiplicity of the EP). In the literature, unfortunately, only the benchmark matrix models with $K=1$ can be found. In our paper the gap is filled: the EP-mediated quantum phase transitions with $K>1$ are called "clustered", and a family of benchmark models admitting such a clustering phenomenon is proposed and described. For the sake of maximal simplicity our attention is restricted to the real perturbed-harmonic-oscillator-type N by N matrix Hamiltonians which are exactly solvable and in which the perturbation is multiparametric (i.e., maximally variable) and antisymmetric (i.e., maximally non-Hermitian). A labeling (i.e., an exhaustive classification) of these models is provided by a specific partitioning of N., 26 pages, supersedes unpublished arXiv:2010.15014

I determine the intrinsic Hamiltonian of the relative motion of the constituent fermions of bosonic composites in superfluid fermion systems, assuming the effective fermion-fermion potential to be a sum of separable terms. The derivation is based on an expansion that treats composites, quasiparticles, and their interactions on the same footing. The intrinsic Hamiltonian of the composites is expressed in terms of the solution of the gap equation and of the form factors of the potential. It has the Brillouin-Wigner form, namely it is Hermitian and energy-dependent. In such a context, a solid justification is given for discarding negative energies of the composites. As a check, I rederive the dispersion law of the Bogoliubov-Anderson mode and the spectrum of the Bardasis and Schrieffer Hamiltonian. The possible occurrence of gapped modes depending on the form of the fermion-fermion interaction is discussed. The intrinsic wave functions are derived explicitly in the long wave limit, while their full determination requires numerical calculations.

Bulk-boundary correspondence, connecting the bulk topology and the edge states, is an essential principle of the topological phases. However, the bulk-boundary correspondence is broken down in general non-Hermitian systems. In this paper, we construct one-dimensional non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model with periodic driving that exhibits non-Hermitian skin effect: all the eigenstates are localized at the boundary of the systems, whether the bulk states or the zero and the $\pi$ modes. To capture the topological properties, the non-Bloch winding numbers are defined by the non-Bloch periodized evolution operators based on the generalized Brillouin zone. Furthermore, the non-Hermitian bulk-boundary correspondence is established: the non-Bloch winding numbers ($W_{0,\pi}$) characterize the edge states with quasienergies $\epsilon=0, \pi$. In our non-Hermitian system, a novel phenomenon can emerge that the robust edge states can appear even when the Floquet bands are topological trivial with zero non-Bloch band invariant, which is defined in terms of the non-Bloch effective Hamiltonian. We also show that the relation between the non-Bloch winding numbers ($W_{0,\pi}$) and the non-Bloch band invariant ($\mathcal{W}$): $\mathcal{W}= W_{0}- W_{\pi}$., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

We point out that in non-Hermitian systems, Jordan decomposition should replace eigendecomposition so that all ``good approximate eigenstates'' of the system are identified. These states can be resonantly excited. As a concrete example, we study the location and field distribution of zero-energy corner states in a non-Hermitian quadrupole insulator (QI) and split the parameter space into three distinct regimes according to properties of the corner states: near-Hermitian QI, intermediate phase, and trivial insulator. In the newly discovered intermediate phase, the Hamiltonian becomes defective, and the counterintuitive and delicate response of the system to external drives can be perfectly explained by the Jordan decomposition.

Magnetic systems have been extensively studied from both a fundamental physics perspective and as technological building blocks. The topological properties of magnonic excitations in these systems remain relatively unexplored, due to their inherently dissipative nature. The recent extension of the theory of topological classification to non-Hermitian Hamiltonians provides a pathway to engineer topological phases in dissipative systems. Here, we propose a magnonic realization of a topological, non-Hermitian system. A crucial ingredient of our proposal is the injection of spin current into the magnetic system, which alters and can even change the sign of terms describing dissipation. We show that the magnetic dynamics of an array of spin-torque oscillators can be mapped onto a non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model exhibiting topologically protected edge states. The nontrivial topological phase is accessed by tuning the spin current injected into the array. We derive this result using both exact diagonalization of the effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonian and numerical analysis of the nonlinear equations of motion. In the nontrivial topological phase, a single spin-torque oscillator on the edge of the array is driven into auto-oscillation and emits a microwave signal, while the bulk oscillators remain inactive. Our findings have practical utility for memory devices and spintronics neural networks relying on spin-torque oscillators as constituent units.

The cooperation between non-Hermiticity and interaction brings about a lot of counterintuitive behaviors, which are impossible to exist in the framework of the Hermitian system. We study the effect of a non-Hermitian impurity on the Hubbard model in the context of $\ensuremath{\eta}$ symmetry. We show that the non-Hermitian Hubbard Hamiltonian can respect a full real spectrum even if a local non-Hermitian impurity is applied to. The balance between dissipation of single fermion and on-site pair fluctuation results in a highest-order coalescing state with off-diagonal long-range order (ODLRO). Based on the characteristic of high-order EP, the critical non-Hermitian Hubbard model allows the generation of such a steady superconducting-like state through the time evolution from an arbitrary initial state, including the vacuum state. Remarkably, this dynamic scheme is insensitive to the on-site interaction and entirely independent of the locations of particle dissipation and pair fluctuation. Our results lay the groundwork for the dynamical generation of a steady ODLRO state through the critical non-Hermitian strongly correlated system.

The efficient transfer of excitations between different levels of a quantum system is a task with many applications. Among the various protocols to carry out such a state transfer in driven systems, rapid adiabatic passage (RAP) is one of the most widely used. Here we show both theoretically and experimentally that adding a suitable amount of loss to the driven Hamiltonian turns a RAP protocol into a scheme for encircling an exceptional point including the chiral state transfer associated with it. Our work thus discloses an intimate connection between a whole body of literature on RAP and recent studies on the dynamics in the vicinity of an exceptional point, which we expect to serve as a bridge between the disjoint communities working on these two scenarios., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures in main text; 14 pages supplementary material

The energy band attraction (EBA) caused by the nonorthogonal eigenvectors is a unique phenomenon in the non-Hermitian (NH) system. However, restricted by the required tight-binding approximation and meticulously engineered complex potentials, such an effect has never been experimentally demonstrated before. Here by a suitable design of all-dielectric Mie resonators in a parallel-plate transmission line, we for the first time verify the photonic analog of the EBA effects both theoretically and experimentally. The evolution of the EBA effect in a two-level NH system from gapped bands to gapless bands to flat bands is observed by precisely tuning the loss of the Mie resonators. The transmission spectra can be theoretically connected to the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the NH Hamiltonian. Furthermore we extend our methods to a graphenelike two-dimensional NH system. Our works show a metamaterial approach toward NH topological photonics and foster a deeper understanding of band theory in open systems.

We investigate the energy band structure and exceptional ring in a two-dimensional superconducting circuit lattice. In the case of a Hermitian Hamiltonian, by modulating the on-site potential, we find that the single Dirac point splits into four degenerate points. For the non-Hermitian situation, we find that the flat band is significantly destroyed by the presence of gain and loss and the introduction of long-range coupling makes the zero-energy flat band survive because of the protection of chiral symmetry. Meanwhile, the purely real spectrum can be transformed into the purely imaginary spectrum via modulating the parameters appropriately. Furthermore, when the nonreciprocal next-nearest-neighbor couplings are continuously modulated, the two exceptional rings become one and a Dirac-like point occurs inside the exceptional ring. Our scheme opens the promising possibilities for exploring the topological property of two-dimensional superconducting circuit lattice system.

We study the behavior of the out-of-time-ordered correlator (OTOC) in a non-Hermitian quantum Ising system. We show that the OTOC can diagnose not only the ground state exceptional point, which hosts the Yang-Lee edge singularity, but also the \textit{dynamical} exceptional point at the excited state. We find that the evolution of the OTOC in the parity-time symmetric phase can be divided into two stages: in the short-time stage, the OTOC oscillates periodically, and when the parameter is near the ground state exceptional point, this oscillation behavior can be described by both the scaling theory of the $(0+1)$D Yang-Lee edge singularity and the scaling theory of the $(1+1)$D quantum Ising model; while in the long-time stage the OTOC increases exponentially, controlled by the dynamical exceptional point. Possible experimental realizations are then discussed., Comment: 5+2 pages, 6+4 figures

We investigate the dynamical properties of one-dimensional dissipative Fermi-Hubbard models, which are described by the Lindblad master equations with site-dependent jump operators. The corresponding non-Hermitian effective Hamiltonians with pure loss terms possess parity-time ($\mathcal{PT}$) symmetry if we compensate the system additionally an overall gain term. By solving the two-site Lindblad equation with fixed dissipation exactly, we find that the dynamics of rescaled density matrix shows an instability as the interaction increases over a threshold, which can be equivalently described in the scheme of non-Hermitian effective Hamiltonians. This instability is also observed in multi-site systems and closely related to the $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry breaking accompanied by appearance of complex eigenvalues of the effective Hamiltonian. Moreover, we unveil that the dynamical instability of the anti-ferromagnetic Mott phase comes from the $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry breaking in highly excited bands, although the low-energy effective model of the non-Hermitian Hubbard model in the strongly interacting regime is always Hermitian. We also provide a quantitative estimation of the time for the observation of dynamical $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry breaking which could be probed in experiments., 10 pages, 9 figures

We propose a scheme for simulating a momentum dependent non-Hermitian Hamiltonian term by adding loss in the hopping process in a one-dimensional array of optical cavities, which leads to a one-band topological nontrivial non-Hermitian model. We find that there is a kind of transition from all real energy spectrum to all imaginary one under open boundary conditions: the eigenvalues are all real or imaginary dependent on which amplitude of the Hermitian or non-Hermitian part is dominant even though the eigenvalues of the bulk system are complex under the periodic boundary condition. In addition, for such a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, the left eigenvectors are the mirror symmetry of the right eigenvectors. Finally, by using the input-output formula, we show that the distribution of the boundary states can be directly observed by detecting the optical transmission in both cases.

This paper presents a non-Hermitian $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric extension of the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model of quantum chromodynamics in $3+1$ and $1+1$ dimensions. In $3+1$ dimensions, the SU(2)-symmetric NJL Hamiltonian ${\mathcal{H}}_{\mathrm{NJL}}=\overline{\ensuremath{\psi}}(\ensuremath{-}i{\ensuremath{\gamma}}^{k}{\ensuremath{\partial}}_{k}+{m}_{0})\ensuremath{\psi}\ensuremath{-}G[(\overline{\ensuremath{\psi}}\ensuremath{\psi}{)}^{2}+(\overline{\ensuremath{\psi}}i{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{5}\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{\ensuremath{\tau}}\ensuremath{\psi}{)}^{2}]$ is extended by the non-Hermitian, $\mathcal{PT}$- and chiral-symmetric bilinear term $ig\overline{\ensuremath{\psi}}{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{5}{B}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}{\ensuremath{\gamma}}^{\ensuremath{\mu}}\ensuremath{\psi}$; in $1+1$ dimensions, where ${\mathcal{H}}_{\mathrm{NJL}}$ is a form of the Gross-Neveu model, it is extended by the non-Hermitian $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric but chiral symmetry breaking term $g\overline{\ensuremath{\psi}}{\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{5}\ensuremath{\psi}$. In each case, the gap equation is derived, and the effects of the non-Hermitian terms on the generated mass are studied. We have several findings: in previous calculations for the free Dirac equation modified to include non-Hermitian bilinear terms, contrary to expectation, no real mass spectrum can be obtained in the chiral limit. In these cases, a nonzero bare fermion mass is essential for the realization of $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry in the unbroken regime. Here, in the NJL model, in which four-point interactions are present, we do find real values for the mass spectrum also in the limit of vanishing bare masses in both $3+1$ and $1+1$ dimensions, at least for certain specific values of the non-Hermitian couplings $g$. Thus, the four-point interaction overrides the effects leading to $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry breaking for these parameter values. Further, we find that in both cases, in $3+1$ and in $1+1$ dimensions, the inclusion of a non-Hermitian bilinear term can contribute to the generated mass. In both models, this contribution can be tuned to be small; we thus fix the fermion mass to its value when ${m}_{0}=0$ in the absence of the non-Hermitian term, and then determine the value of the coupling required so as to generate a bare fermion mass. Finally, we find that in both cases, a rich phase structure emerges from the gap equation as a function of the coupling strengths.

Topological phenomena in non-Hermitian systems have recently become a subject of great interest in the photonics and condensed-matter communities. In particular, the possibility of observing topologically-protected edge states in non-Hermitian lattices has sparked an intensive search for systems where this kind of states are sustained. Here, we present the first study on the emergence of topological edge states in two-dimensional Haldane lattices exhibiting balanced gain and loss. In line with recent studies on other Chern insulator models, we show that edge states can be observed in the so-called broken $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$-symmetric phase, that is, when the spectrum of the gain-loss-balanced system's Hamiltonian is not entirely real. More importantly, we find that such topologically protected edge states emerge irrespective of the lattice boundaries, namely zigzag, bearded or armchair.

We consider conditions for the existence of boundary modes in non-Hermitian systems with edges of arbitrary codimension. Through a universal formulation of formation criteria for boundary modes in terms of local Green's functions, we outline a generic perspective on the appearance of such modes and generate corresponding dispersion relations. In the process, we explain the skin effect in both topological and nontopological systems, exhaustively generalizing bulk-boundary correspondence to different types of non-Hermitian gap conditions, a prominent distinguishing feature of such systems. Indeed, we expose a direct relation between the presence of a point gap invariant and the appearance of skin modes when this gap is trivialized by an edge. This correspondence is established via a doubled Green's function, inspired by doubled Hamiltonian methods used to classify Floquet and, more recently, non-Hermitian topological phases. Our work constitutes a general tool, as well as a unifying perspective for this rapidly evolving field. Indeed, as a concrete application we find that our method can expose novel non-Hermitian topological regimes beyond the reach of previous methods.

Deterministically cloning (copying) nonorthogonal states is forbidden in quantum mechanics, but deterministic pseudo-unitary cloning is possible in a nonunitary system. We prove and show that, for any two nonorthogonal qubit states, we can find a linear, invertible Hermitian (metric) operator to make these states mutually orthogonal with respect to the corresponding pseudo-inner product. From this metric operator, we construct a pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian and its evolution operator as an ideal, deterministic pseudo-unitary cloner. For applicability, suppose Alice lives in our ordinary universe and Bob lives in a universe that has the desired pseudo-unitary evolution. Alice would send her nonorthogonal states to Bob and Bob would do the cloning deterministically and send back to Alice. The quantum channel will be lossy not due to Bob's universe's properties, but rather due to problems making a channel between the two universes. We experimentally demonstrate deterministic pseudo-unitary two-qubit cloning for a photonic pseudo-unitary two-qubit system. In our universe we have to demonstrate that universe by executing a postselected gate that effects loss-based pseudo-unitary evolution. Furthermore, we introduce an algorithmic method for designing experimental realizations of a generic class of nonunitary operators for pseudo-unitary cloning.

Periodically driven non-Hermitian systems can exhibit rich topological band structure and non-Hermitian skin effect, without analogs in their static or Hermitian counterparts. In this work we investigate the exceptional band-touching points in the Floquet quasi-energy bands, the topological characterization of such exceptions points and the Floquet non-Hermitian skin effect (FNHSE). Specifically, we exploit the simplicity of periodically quenched two-band systems in one dimension or two dimensions to analytically obtain the Floquet effective Hamiltonian as well as locations of the many exceptional points possessed by the Floquet bulk bands. Two different types of topological winding numbers are used to characterize the topological features. Bulk-edge correspondence (BBC) is naturally found to break down due to FNHSE, which can be drastically different among different bulk states. Remarkably, given the simple nature of our model systems, recovering the BBC is doable in practice only for certain parameter regime where a low-order truncation of the characteristic polynomial (which determines the Floquet band structure) becomes feasible. Furthermore, irrespective of which parameter regime we work with, we find a number of intriguing aspects of Floquet topological zero modes and $\pi$ modes. For example, under the open boundary condition zero edge modes and $\pi$ edge modes can individually coalesce and localize at two different boundaries. These anomalous edge states can also switch their accumulation boundaries when certain system parameter is tuned. These results indicate that non-Hermitian Floquet topological phases, though more challenging to understand than their Hermitian counterparts, can be extremely rich in the presence of FNHSE., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures

Exceptional points (EPs) correspond to degeneracies of open systems. These are attracting much interest in optics, optoelectronics, plasmonics, and condensed matter physics. In the classical and semiclassical approaches, Hamiltonian EPs (HEPs) are usually defined as degeneracies of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians such that at least two eigenfrequencies are identical and the corresponding eigenstates coalesce. HEPs result from continuous, mostly slow, nonunitary evolution without quantum jumps. Clearly, quantum jumps should be included in a fully quantum approach to make it equivalent to, e.g., the Lindblad master-equation approach. Thus, we suggest to define EPs via degeneracies of a Liouvillian superoperator (including the full Lindbladian term, LEPs), and we clarify the relations between HEPs and LEPs. We prove two main theorems: Theorem 1 proves that, in the quantum limit, LEPs and HEPs must have essentially different properties. Theorem 2 dictates a condition under which, in the ``semiclassical'' limit, LEPs and HEPs recover the same properties. In particular, we show the validity of Theorem 1 studying systems which have (1) an LEP but no HEPs, and (2) both LEPs and HEPs but for shifted parameters. As for Theorem 2, (3) we show that these two types of EPs become essentially equivalent in the semiclassical limit. We introduce a series of mathematical techniques to unveil analogies and differences between the HEPs and LEPs. We analytically compare LEPs and HEPs for some quantum and semiclassical prototype models with loss and gain., Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures

The time-dependent pseudo-Hermitian formulation of quantum mechanics allows to study open system dynamics in analogy to Hermitian quantum systems. In this setting, we show that the notion of holonomic quantum computation can equally be formulated for pseudo-Hermitian systems. Starting from a degenerate pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian we show that, in the adiabatic limit, a non-Abelian geometric phase emerges which realizes a pseudounitary quantum gate. We illustrate our findings by studying a pseudo-Hermitian gain/loss system which can be written in the form of a tripod Hamiltonian by using the biorthogonal representation. It is shown that this system allows for arbitrary pseudo-$\mathrm{U}(2)$ transformations acting on the dark subspace of the system., 8 pages, 1 figure

We consider a class of one-dimensional non-Hermitian models with a special type of a chiral symmetry which is related to pseudo-Hermiticity. We show that the topology of a Hamiltonian belonging to this symmetry class is determined by a hidden Chern number described by an effective 2D Hermitian Hamiltonian $H^{\rm eff} (k, \eta)$, where $\eta$ is the imaginary part of the energy. This Chern number manifests itself as topologically protected in-gap end states at zero real part of the energy. We show that the bulk-boundary correspondence coming from the hidden Chern number is robust and immune to non-Hermitian skin effect. We introduce a minimal model Hamiltonian supporting topologically nontrivial phases in this symmetry class, derive its topological phase diagram and calculate the end states originating from the hidden Chern number., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

Spontaneous magnon decay is a generic feature of the magnetic excitations of anisotropic magnets and isotropic magnets with non-collinear order. In this paper, we argue that the effect of interactions on one-magnon states can, under many circumstances, be treated in terms of an effective, energy independent, non-Hermitian Hamiltonian for the magnons. In the vicinity of Dirac or Weyl touching points, we show that the spectral function has a characteristic anisotropy arising from topologically protected exceptional points or lines in the non-Hermitian spectrum. Such features can, in principle, be detected using inelastic neutron scattering or other spectroscopic probes. We illustrate this physics through a concrete example: a honeycomb ferromagnet with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya exchange. We perform interacting spin wave calculations of the structure factor and spectral function of this model, showing good agreement with results from a simple effective non-Hermitian model for the splitting of the Dirac point. Finally, we argue that the zoo of known topological protected magnon band structures may serve as a nearly ideal platform for realizing and exploring non-Hermitian physics in solid-state systems., 4+epsilon pages

We show that topological phases of the Dirac system in arbitral even dimensional space are simulated by $LC$ electric circuits with operational amplifiers. The lattice Hamiltonian for the hypercubic lattice in $2n$ dimensional space is characterized by the $n$-th Chern number. The boundary state is described by the Weyl theory in $2n-1$ dimensional space. They are well observed by measuring the admittance spectrum. They are different from the disentangled $n$-th Chern insulators previously reported, where the $n$-th Chern number is a product of the first Chern numbers. The results are extended to non-Hermitian systems with complex Dirac masses. The non-Hermitian $n$-th Chern number remains to be quantized for the complex Dirac mass.

To understand recent works on classical and quantum spin equations and their topological classification, we develop a unified mathematical framework for bosonic Bogoliubov--de Gennes (BdG) systems and associated classical wave equations; it applies not just to equations that describe quantized spin excitations in magnonic crystals but more broadly to other systems that are described by a BdG Hamiltonian. Because here the generator of dynamics, the analog of the Hamiltonian, is para-Hermitian (also known as pseudo- or Krein-Hermitian) but not Hermitian, the theory of Krein spaces plays a crucial role. For systems which are thermodynamically stable, the classical equations can be expressed as a ``Schr\"odinger equation'' with a Hermitian Hamiltonian. We then apply the Cartan-Altland-Zirnbauer classification scheme: To properly understand what topological class these equations belong to, we need to conceptually distinguish between symmetries and constraints. Complex conjugation enters as a particle-hole constraint (as opposed to a symmetry), since classical waves are necessarily real-valued. Because of this distinction, only commuting symmetries enter in the topological classification. Our arguments show that the equations for spin waves in magnonic crystals are a system of class A, the same topological class as quantum Hamiltonians describing the integer quantum Hall effect. Consequently, the magnonic edge modes first predicted by Shindou et al. [Phys. Rev. B 87, 174427 (2013)] are indeed analogs of the quantum Hall effect, and their net number is topologically protected.

$\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric systems are one of the most interesting research fields in modern quantum physics, where various theoretical and experimental progress has been made. In our work, we experimentally demonstrate how to realize a general $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric two-level operation in a quantum computation frame with a universal circuit model. It is based on enlarging the system with ancillary qubits and encoding the subsystem with the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian with postselection. Furthermore, we use the general formula to demonstrate one particular interesting issue, entanglement restoration induced by local $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric operation in our four-qubit liquid nuclear magnetic resonance platform, and a theoretical explanation for the physical characteristics has been proposed. We also extend the protocol to the realization of an arbitrary two-level Hamiltonian evolution without a Hermitian restriction by an appropriate modification of the original quantum circuit. Our work lays the foundation for quantum simulation of the general $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric problem in realistic quantum simulators, and the scheme can be extended to other quantum computation platforms.

Non-Hermitian systems exhibit many peculiar dynamic behaviors which never showed up in Hermitian systems. The existence of spectral singularity (SS) for a non-Hermitian scattering center provides a lasing mechanism in the context of quantum mechanics. In this paper we show exactly that a finite system at exceptional point (EP) can also provide an alternative laser solution. We investigate the dynamics of non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model around EP, based on the analysis of parity-time (PT ) and chiral-time (CT ) symmetries of the Hamiltonian. In contrast to the SS lasing mechanism for an infinite system, such an SSH chain acts as an active laser medium at threshold, within which a stationary particle emission can be fired anywhere, rather than a specific location at the non-Hermitian scattering center only. In addition, some relevant peculiar phenomena arising from interference between wave packets are revealed based on the analytical solutions.

We classify topological phases of non-Hermitian systems in the Altland-Zirnbauer classes with an additional reflection symmetry in all dimensions. By mapping the non-Hermitian system into an enlarged Hermitian Hamiltonian with an enforced chiral symmetry, our topological classification is thus equivalent to classifying Hermitian systems with both chiral and reflection symmetries, which effectively change the classifying space and shift the periodical table of topological phases. According to our classification tables, we provide concrete examples for all topologically nontrivial non-Hermitian classes in one dimension and also give explicitly the topological invariant for each nontrivial example. Our results show that there exist two kinds of topological invariants composed of either winding numbers or $\mathbb{Z}_2$ numbers. By studying the corresponding lattice models under the open boundary condition, we unveil the existence of bulk-edge correspondence for the one-dimensional topological non-Hermitian systems characterized by winding numbers, however we did not observe the bulk-edge correspondence for the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological number in our studied $\mathbb{Z}_2$-type model., Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, version accepted by PRB

We investigate the boundary condition dependence of non-Hermitian topological systems. We consider a complex extension of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model. We discuss that topological zero-energy modes exist if the system has open edges. We show that robust zero-energy states appear for the closed lattice too. We also consider a complex extension of the Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang Hamiltonian. We show that the translationally invariant system has a complex-valued band structure. We discuss that $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry is restored for helical edge states if the translational invariance is lost in one direction.

Asymmetric coupling amplitudes effectively create an imaginary gauge field, which induces a non-Hermitian Aharonov-Bohm (AB) effect. Nonzero imaginary magnetic flux invalidates the bulk-boundary correspondence and leads to a topological phase transition. However, the way of non-Hermiticity appearance may alter the system topology. By alternatively introducing the non-Hermiticity under symmetry to prevent nonzero imaginary magnetic flux, the bulk-boundary correspondence recovers and every bulk state becomes extended; the bulk topology of Bloch Hamiltonian predicts the (non)existence of edge states and topological phase transition. These are elucidated in a non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, where chiral-inversion symmetry ensures the vanishing of imaginary magnetic flux. The average value of Pauli matrices under the eigenstate of chiral-inversion symmetric Bloch Hamiltonian defines a vector field, the vorticity of topological defects in the vector field is a topological invariant. Our findings are applicable in other non-Hermitian systems. We first uncover the roles played by non-Hermitian AB effect and chiral-inversion symmetry for the breakdown and recovery of bulk-boundary correspondence, and develop new insights for understanding non-Hermitian topological phases of matter., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures + 10 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B as a Rapid Communication

Exact diagonalization expansions of Bose or Fermi gases with contact interactions converge very slowly due to a nonanalytic cusp in the wave function. Here we develop a transcorrelated approach where the cusp is treated exactly and folded into the many-body Hamiltonian with a similarity transformation that removes the leading-order singularity. The resulting transcorrelated Hamiltonian is not Hermitian but can be treated numerically with a standard projection approach. The smoothness of the wave function improves by at least one order and thus the convergence rate for the ground-state energy improves. By numerical investigation of a one-dimensional gas of spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ fermions we find the error in the transcorrelated energy to scale as ${M}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ with a single-particle basis of $M$ plane waves compared to ${M}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ for the expansion of the original Hamiltonian and ${M}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ using conventional lattice renormalization.

We investigated a damped two-level system interacting with a circularly polarized light as described by an asymmetric non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. This is a simple enough system to be studied analytically while complicated enough to exhibit a rich variety of behaviors. This system exhibits a ring of exceptional points in the parameter space of the real and imaginary dipole couplings where within the ring the energy eigenvalue of the system does not change. This leads to unstable regions inside the exceptional ring, which is shown using a linear stability analysis. These unstable regions are unique to gain-loss systems and have the surprising property that no matter how small the gain/loss ratio, the gain always prevails at long times. We also report on eigenvalue switching, phase rigidity and dynamics of the system around the exceptional points. We highlight that some of these properties are different from those in the widely studied case of symmetric non-Hermitian Hamiltonians.

We explore the eigenvalue statistics of a non-Hermitian version of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model, with imaginary on-site potentials and randomly distributed hopping terms. We find that owing to the structure of the Hamiltonian, eigenvalues can be purely real in a certain range of parameters, even in the absence of parity and time-reversal symmetry. As it turns out, in this case of purely real spectrum, the level statistics is that of the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble. This demonstrates a general feature which we clarify that a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian whose eigenvalues are purely real can be mapped to a Hermitian Hamiltonian which inherits the symmetries of the original Hamiltonian. When the spectrum contains imaginary eigenvalues, we show that the density of states (DOS) vanishes at the origin and diverges at the spectral edges on the imaginary axis. We show that the divergence of the DOS originates from the Dyson singularity in chiral-symmetric one-dimensional Hermitian systems and derive analytically the asymptotes of the DOS which is different from that in Hermitian systems., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures

A non-Hermitian operator may serve as the Hamiltonian for a unitary quantum system, if we can modify the Hilbert space of state vectors of the system so that it turns into a Hermitian operator. If this operator is time-dependent, the modified Hilbert space is generally time-dependent. This in turn leads to a generic conflict between the condition that the Hamiltonian is an observable of the system and that it generates a unitary time-evolution via the standard Schr\"odinger equation. We propose a geometric framework for addressing this problem. In particular we show that the Hamiltonian operator consists of a geometric part, which is determined by a metric-compatible connection on an underlying Hermitian vector bundle, and a non-geometric part which we identify with the energy observable. The same quantum system can be locally described using a time-dependent Hamiltonian that acts in a time-independent state space and is the sum of a geometric part and the energy operator. The full global description of the system is achieved within the framework of a moderate geometric extension of quantum mechanics where the role of the Hilbert space of state vectors is played by a Hermitian vector bundle $\mathcal{E}$ endowed with a metric compatible connection, and observables are given by global sections of a real vector bundle that is determined by $\mathcal{E}$. We examine the utility of our proposal to describe a class of two-level systems where $\mathcal{E}$ is a Hermitian vector bundle over a two-dimensional sphere., Comment: 31 pages, 1 figure, slightly expanded version, to appear in Phys. Rev. D

With fourth-order derivative theories leading to propagators of the generic ghostlike $1/({k}^{2}\ensuremath{-}{M}_{1}^{2})\ensuremath{-}1/({k}^{2}\ensuremath{-}{M}_{2}^{2})$ form, it would appear that such theories have negative norm ghost states and are not unitary. However on constructing the associated quantum Hilbert space for the free theory that would produce such a propagator, Bender and Mannheim found that the Hamiltonian of the free theory is not Hermitian but is instead $PT$ symmetric, and that there are in fact no negative norm ghost states, with all Hilbert space norms being both positive and preserved in time. Even though perturbative radiative corrections cannot change the signature of a Hilbert space inner product, nonetheless it is not immediately apparent how such a ghostlike propagator would not then lead to negative probability contributions in loop diagrams. Here we obtain the relevant Feynman rules and show that all states obtained in cutting intermediate lines in loop diagrams have positive norm. Also we show that due to the specific way that unitarity (conservation of probability) is implemented in the theory, negative signatured discontinuities across cuts in loop diagrams are canceled by a novel and unanticipated contribution of the states in which tree approximation (no loop) graphs are calculated, an effect that is foreign to standard Hermitian theories. Perturbatively then, the fourth-order derivative theory with propagator $1/({k}^{2}\ensuremath{-}{M}_{1}^{2})\ensuremath{-}1/({k}^{2}\ensuremath{-}{M}_{2}^{2})$ is viable. Implications of our results for the pure massless $1/{k}^{4}$ propagator are also discussed.

The combination of non-Hermitian physics and strong correlations can give rise to new effects in open quantum many-body systems with balanced gain and loss. We propose a generalized Anderson impurity model that includes non-Hermitian hopping terms between an embedded quantum dot and two wires. These non-Hermitian hopping terms respect a parity-time ($\mathcal{PT}$) symmetry. In the regime of a singly occupied localized state, we map the problem to a $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric Kondo model and study the effects of the interactions using a perturbative renormalization group approach. We find that the Kondo effect persists if the couplings are below a critical value that corresponds to an exceptional point of the non-Hermitian Kondo interaction. On the other hand, in the regime of spontaneously broken $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry, the Kondo effect is suppressed and the low-energy properties are governed by a local-moment fixed point with vanishing conductance.

A Hamiltonian $H$ that is not Hermitian can still have a real and complete energy eigenspectrum if it instead is $PT$ symmetric. For such Hamiltonians three possible inner products have been considered in the literature, the $V$ norm, the $PT$ norm, and the $C$ norm. Here $V$ is the operator that implements $VHV^{-1}=H^{\dagger}$, the $PT$ norm is the overlap of a state with its $PT$ conjugate, and $C$ is a discrete linear operator that always exists for any Hamiltonian that can be diagonalized. Here we show that it is the $V$ norm that is the most fundamental as it is always chosen by the theory itself. In addition we show that the $V$ norm is always equal to the $PT$ norm if one defines the $PT$ conjugate of a state to contain its intrinsic $PT$ phase. We discuss the conditions under which the $V$ norm coincides with the $C$ operator norm, and show that in general one should not use the linear $C$ operator but for the purposes that it is used one can instead use the antilinear $PT$ operator itself., Comment: 10 pages,revtex4. Final version, to appear in Phys. Rev. D

Recently developed parity (P) and time-reversal (T) symmetric non-Hermitian systems govern a rich variety of new and characteristically distinct physical properties, which may or may not have a direct analog in their Hermitian counterparts. We study here a non-Hermitian, PT-symmetric superconducting Hamiltonian that possesses real quasiparticle spectrum in the PT-region of the Brillouin zone. Within a single-band mean-field theory, we find that real quasiparticle energies are possible when the superconducting order parameter itself is either Hermitian or anti-Hermitian. Within the corresponding Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory, we find that several properties are characteristically distinct and novel in the non-Hermitian pairing case than its Hermitian counterpart. One of our significant findings is that while a Hermitian superconductor gives a second order phase transition, the non-Hermitian one produces a robust first order phase transition. The corresponding thermodynamic properties, and the Meissner effect are also modified accordingly. Finally, we discuss how such a PT-symmetric pairings can emerge from an anti-symmetric potential, such as the Dzyloshinskii-Moria interaction, but with an external external bath, or complex potential, among others., 15 pages including appendices (2 columns), (v2): Hermitian pairing solution of the DM interaction is added; and conditions for obtaining non-Hermitian pairings are further delineated

We derive the analytical solution of the model of a two-state system interacting with an external coherent field, in which the Hamiltonian is pseudo-Hermitian. We describe in detail the non-Hermitian generalization of the famed Landau-Zener-St\"uckelberg-Majorana model, but similar generalizations can be derived in a very simple fashion for the other analytically soluble two-state models. The analytical solutions possess a non-Hermitian dynamical invariant, which replaces the probability conservation condition in the Hermitian case. Implementations in waveguide optics and nonlinear frequency conversion are suggested.

We study inter-chain pair tunnelling dynamics based on an exact two-particle solution for a two-leg ladder. We show that the Hermitian Hamiltonian shares a common two-particle eigenstate with a corresponding non-Hermitian Hubbard Hamiltonian in which the non-Hermiticity arises from an on-site interaction of imaginary strength. Our results provides that the dynamic processes of two-particle collision and across-legs tunnelling are well described by the effective non-Hermitian Hubbard Hamiltonian based on the eigenstate equivalence. We also find that any common eigenstate is always associated with the emergence of spectral singularity in the non-Hermitian Hubbard model. This result is valid for both Bose and Fermi systems and provides a clear physical implication of the non-Hermitian Hubbard model., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures

The statistics of work performed on a system by a sudden random quench is investigated. Considering systems with finite dimensional Hilbert spaces we model a sudden random quench by randomly choosing elements from a Gaussian unitary ensemble (GUE) consisting of Hermitian matrices with identically, Gaussian distributed matrix elements. A probability density function (pdf) of work in terms of initial and final energy distributions is derived and evaluated for a two-level system. Explicit results are obtained for quenches with a sharply given initial Hamiltonian, while the work pdfs for quenches between Hamiltonians from two independent GUEs can only be determined in explicit form in the limits of zero and infinite temperature. The same work distribution as for a sudden random quench is obtained for an adiabatic, i.e., infinitely slow, protocol connecting the same initial and final Hamiltonians.

A main distinguishing feature of non-Hermitian quantum mechanics is the presence of exceptional points (EPs). They correspond to the coalescence of two energy levels and their respective eigenvectors. Here, we use the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick (LMG) model as a testbed to explore the strong connection between EPs and the onset of excited state quantum phase transitions (ESQPTs). We show that for finite systems, the exact degeneracies (EPs) obtained with the non-Hermitian LMG Hamiltonian continued into the complex plane are directly linked with the avoided crossings that characterize the ESQPTs for the real (physical) LMG Hamiltonian. The values of the complex control parameter $\alpha$ that lead to the EPs approach the real axis as the system size $N\rightarrow \infty$. This happens for both, the EPs that are close to the separatrix that marks the ESQPT and also for those that are far away, although in the latter case, the rate the imaginary part of $\alpha$ reduces to zero as $N$ increases is smaller. With the method of Pad\'e approximants, we can extract the critical value of $\alpha$., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

We generalize the quantum adiabatic theorem to the non-Hermitian system and build a strict adiabaticity condition to make the adiabatic evolution nonlossy when taking into account the effect of the adiabatic phase. According to the strict adiabaticity condition, the nonadiabatic couplings and the effect of the imaginary part of adiabatic phase should be eliminated as much as possible. Also, the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian reverse-engineering method is proposed for adiabatically driving an artificial quantum state. A concrete two-level system is adopted to show the usefulness of the reverse-engineering method. We obtain the desired target state by adjusting extra rotating magnetic fields at a predefined time. Furthermore, the numerical simulation shows that certain noise and dissipation in the systems are no longer undesirable but play a positive role in the scheme. Therefore, the scheme is quite useful for quantum information processing in some dissipative systems.

Measurement is one of the most counter-intuitive aspects of quantum physics. Frequent measurements of a quantum system lead to quantum Zeno dynamics where time evolution becomes confined to a subspace defined by the projections. However, weak measurement performed at a finite rate is also capable of locking the system into such a Zeno subspace in an unconventional way: by Raman-like transitions via virtual intermediate states outside this subspace, which are not forbidden. Here, we extend this concept into the realm of non-Hermitian dynamics by showing that the stochastic competition between measurement and a system's own dynamics can be described by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. We obtain an analytic solution for ultracold bosons in a lattice and show that a dark state of the tunnelling operator is a steady state in which the observable's fluctuations are zero and tunnelling is suppressed by destructive matter-wave interference. This opens a new venue of investigation beyond the canonical quantum Zeno dynamics and leads to a new paradigm of competition between global measurement backaction and short-range atomic dynamics., Accepted in Phys. Rev. A

We present a phase-space study of a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian with $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry based on the Wigner distribution function. For an arbitrary complex potential, we derive a generalized continuity equation for the Wigner function flow and calculate the related circulation values. Studying the vicinity of an exceptional point, we show that a $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric phase transition from an unbroken $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetry phase to a broken one is a second-order phase transition.

We show that the bulk-boundary correspondence for topological insulators can be modified in the presence of non-Hermiticity. We consider a one-dimensional tight-binding model with gain and loss as well as long-range hopping. The system is described by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian that encircles an exceptional point in momentum space. The winding number has a fractional value of 1/2. There is only one dynamically stable zero-energy edge state due to the defectiveness of the Hamiltonian. This edge state is robust to disorder due to protection by a chiral symmetry. We also discuss experimental realization with arrays of coupled resonator optical waveguides., Comment: 5 pages + appendix