Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1708.07577 · Physical Review A

Particle in a box in PT -symmetric quantum mechanics and an electromagnetic analog

Anirudh Dasarathy, Joshua Isaacson, Katherine Jones-Smith, Jason Tabachnik, Harsh Mathur

Published Jun 20, 2013• 10 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

In $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric quantum mechanics a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics, that the Hamiltonian must be Hermitian, is replaced by another set of requirements, including notably symmetry under $\mathcal{PT}$, where $\mathcal{P}$ denotes parity and $\mathcal{T}$ denotes time reversal. Here we study the role of boundary conditions in $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric quantum mechanics by constructing a simple model that is the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric analog of a particle in a box. The model has the usual particle-in-a-box Hamiltonian but boundary conditions that respect $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry rather than Hermiticity. We find that for a broad class of $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric boundary conditions the model respects the condition of unbroken $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry, namely, that the Hamiltonian and the symmetry operator $\mathcal{PT}$ have simultaneous eigenfunctions, implying that the energy eigenvalues are real. We also find that the Hamiltonian is self-adjoint under the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric inner product. Thus we obtain a simple soluble model that fulfills all the requirements of $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric quantum mechanics. In the second part of this paper we formulate a variational principle for $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric quantum mechanics that is the analog of the textbook Rayleigh-Ritz principle. Finally we consider electromagnetic analogs of the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric particle in a box. We show that the isolated particle in a box may be realized as a Fabry-Perot cavity between an absorbing medium and its conjugate gain medium. Coupling the cavity to an external continuum of incoming and outgoing states turns the energy levels of the box into sharp resonances. Remarkably we find that the resonances have a Breit-Wigner line shape in transmission and a Fano line shape in reflection; by contrast, in the corresponding Hermitian case the line shapes always have a Breit-Wigner form in both transmission and reflection.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.87.062111

Related papers

Geometry of PT-symmetric quantum mechanics

Carl M. Bender, Dorje C. Brody, Lane P. Hughston +1 more

Recently, much research has been carried out on Hamiltonians that are not Hermitian but are symmetric under space-time reflection, that is, Hamiltonians that exhibit PT symmetry. Investigations of the Sturm-Liouville eigenvalue problem associated with such Hamiltonians have shown that in many cases the entire energy spectrum is real and positive and that the eigenfunctions form an orthogonal and complete basis. Furthermore, the quantum theories determined by such Hamiltonians have been shown to be consistent in the sense that the probabilities are positive and the dynamical trajectories are unitary. However, the geometrical structures that underlie quantum theories formulated in terms of such Hamiltonians have hitherto not been fully understood. This paper studies in detail the geometric properties of a Hilbert space endowed with a parity structure and analyses the characteristics of a PT-symmetric Hamiltonian and its eigenstates. A canonical relationship between a PT-symmetric operator and a Hermitian operator is established. It is shown that the quadratic form corresponding to the parity operator, in particular, gives rise to a natural partition of the Hilbert space into two halves corresponding to states having positive and negative PT norm. The indefiniteness of the norm can be circumvented by introducing a symmetry operator C that defines a positive definite inner product by means of a CPT conjugation operation.

arXiv:0704.2959•Apr 23, 2007•2 citations

Antilinearity rather than Hermiticity as a guiding principle for quantum theory

Philip D. Mannheim

Abstract Currently there is much interest in Hamiltonians that are not Hermitian but instead possess an antilinear PT symmetry. Here we seek to put such PT symmetric theories into as general a context as possible. After providing a brief overview of the PT symmetry program, we show that having an antilinear symmetry that acts on a well-defined Hilbert space is the most general condition that one can impose on a quantum theory for which one can have a well-defined inner product that is time independent, have a Hamiltonian that is self-adjoint, and have energy eigenvalues that are all real. For each of these properties Hermiticity is only a sufficient condition but not a necessary one, with Hermiticity thus being the special case in which the Hamiltonian has both antilinearity and Hermiticity. As well as being the necessary condition for the reality of energy eigenvalues, antilinearity in addition allows for the physically interesting cases of manifestly non-Hermitian but nonetheless self-adjoint Hamiltonians that have energy eigenvalues that appear in complex conjugate pairs, or that are Jordan block and cannot be diagonalized at all. We show that one can extend these ideas to quantum field theory, with the dual requirements of the existence of time independent inner products and invariance under complex Lorentz transformations forcing the antilinear symmetry to uniquely be CPT . We thus extend the CPT theorem to non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. For theories that are separately charge conjugation invariant, PT symmetry then follows, with the case for the physical relevance of the PT -symmetry program thus being advanced. While CPT symmetry can be defined at the classical level for every classical path in a path integral quantization procedure, in contrast, in such a path integral there is no reference at all to the Hermiticity of the Hamiltonian or the quantum Hilbert space on which it acts, as they are strictly quantum-mechanical concepts that can only be defined after the path integral quantization has been performed and the quantum Hilbert space has been constructed. CPT symmetry thus goes beyond Hermiticity and has primacy over it, with our work raising the question of how Hermiticity ever comes into quantum theory at all. To this end we show that whether or not a CPT -invariant theory has a Hamiltonian that is Hermitian is a property of the solutions to the theory and not of the Hamiltonian itself. Hermiticity thus never needs to be postulated at all.

arXiv:1512.04915•Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical•Apr 26, 2018•43 citations

Making Sense of Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians

Carl M. Bender

The Hamiltonian H specifies the energy levels and time evolution of a quantum theory. A standard axiom of quantum mechanics requires that H be Hermitian because Hermiticity guarantees that the energy spectrum is real and that time evolution is unitary (probability-preserving). This paper describes an alternative formulation of quantum mechanics in which the mathematical axiom of Hermiticity (transpose + complex conjugate) is replaced by the physically transparent condition of space-time reflection (PT) symmetry. If H has an unbroken PT symmetry, then the spectrum is real. Examples of PT-symmetric non-Hermitian quantum-mechanical Hamiltonians are H=p^2+ix^3 and H=p^2-x^4. Amazingly, the energy levels of these Hamiltonians are all real and positive! In general, if H has an unbroken PT symmetry, then it has another symmetry represented by a linear operator C. Using C, one can construct a time-independent inner product with a positive-definite norm. Thus, PT-symmetric Hamiltonians describe a new class of complex quantum theories having positive probabilities and unitary time evolution. The Lee Model is an example of a PT-symmetric Hamiltonian. The renormalized Lee-model Hamiltonian has a negative-norm "ghost" state because renormalization causes the Hamiltonian to become non-Hermitian. For the past 50 years there have been many attempts to find a physical interpretation for the ghost, but all such attempts failed. Our interpretation of the ghost is simply that the non-Hermitian Lee Model Hamiltonian is PT-symmetric. The C operator for the Lee Model is calculated exactly and in closed form and the ghost is shown to be a physical state having a positive norm. The ideas of PT symmetry are illustrated by using many quantum-mechanical and quantum-field-theoretic models.

•Mar 9, 2007•1,514 citations

PT-Symmetric Quantum Mechanics

This paper proposes to broaden the canonical formulation of quantum mechanics.Ordinarily, one imposes the condition H † = H on the Hamiltonian, where † represents the mathematical operation of complex conjugation and matrix transposition.This conventional Hermiticity condition is sufficient to ensure that the Hamiltonian H has a real spectrum.However, replacing this mathematical condition by the weaker and more physical requirement H ‡ = H, where ‡ represents combined parity reflection and time reversal PT , one obtains new classes of complex Hamiltonians whose spectra are still real and positive.This generalization of Hermiticity is investigated using a complex deformation H = p 2 + x 2 (ix) ǫ of the harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian, where ǫ is a real parameter.The system exhibits two phases: When ǫ ≥ 0, the energy spectrum of H is real and positive as a consequence of PT symmetry.However, when -1 < ǫ < 0, the spectrum contains an infinite number of complex eigenvalues and a finite number of real, positive eigenvalues because PT symmetry is spontaneously broken.The phase transition that occurs at ǫ = 0 manifests itself in both the quantum-mechanical system and the underlying classical system.Similar qualitative features are exhibited by complex deformations of other standard real Hamiltonians H = p 2 + x 2N (ix) ǫ with N integer and ǫ > -N ; each of these complex Hamiltonians exhibits a phase transition at ǫ = 0.These PT -symmetric theories may be viewed as analytic continuations of conventional theories from real to complex phase space.

WORLD SCIENTIFIC (EUROPE) eBooks•Nov 21, 2018•1 citation

CPT-Frames for Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians

Cao Huai-xin, Zhihua Guo, Zhengli Chen

Based on the PT-symmetric quantum theory, the concepts of PT-frame, PT-symmetric operator and CPT-frame on a Hilbert space K and for an operator on K are proposed. It is proved that the spectrum and point spectrum of a PT-symmetric linear operator are both symmetric with respect to the real axis and the eigenvalues of an unbroken PT-symmetric operator are real. For a linear operator H on C d , it is proved that H has unbroken PT-symmetry if and only if it has d different eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenstates are eigenstates of PT. Given a CPT-frame on K, a new positive inner product on K is induced and called CPT-inner product. Te relationship between the CPT-adjoint and the Dirac adjoint of a densely defined linear operator is derived, and it is proved that an operator which has a bounded CPT-frame is CPT-Hermitian if and only if it is T-symmetric, in that case, it is similar to a Hermitian operator. The existence of an operator C consisting of a CPT-frame is discussed. These concepts and results will serve a mathematical discussion about PT-symmetric quantum mechanics.

arXiv:1212.3944•Communications in Theoretical Physics•Sep 1, 2013•11 citations

Introduction to 𝒫𝒯-symmetric quantum theory

Carl M. Bender

In most introductory courses on quantum mechanics one is taught that the Hamiltonian operator must be Hermitian in order that the energy levels be real and that the theory be unitary (probability conserving). To express the Hermiticity of a Hamiltonian, one writes H = H †, where the symbol † denotes the usual Dirac Hermitian conjugation; that is, transpose and complex conjugate. In the past few years it has been recognized that the requirement of Hermiticity, which is often stated as an axiom of quantum mechanics, may be replaced by the less mathematical and more physical requirement of space – time reflection symmetry (𝒫𝒯 symmetry) without losing any of the essential physical features of quantum mechanics. Theories defined by non-Hermitian 𝒫𝒯-symmetric Hamiltonians exhibit strange and unexpected properties at the classical as well as at the quantum level. This paper explains how the requirement of Hermiticity can be evaded and discusses the properties of some non-Hermitian 𝒫𝒯-symmetric quantum theories.

arXiv:quant-ph/0501052•Contemporary Physics•Jul 1, 2005•497 citations
In PT\mathcal{PT}PT-symmetric quantum mechanics a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics, that the Hamiltonian must be Hermitian, is replaced by another set of requirements, including notably symmetry under PT\mathcal{PT}PT, where P\mathcal{P}P denotes parity and T\mathcal{T}T denotes time reversal. Here we study the role of boundary conditions in PT\mathcal{PT}PT-symmetric quantum mechanics by constructing a simple model that is the PT\mathcal{PT}PT-symmetric analog of a particle in a box. The model has the usual particle-in-a-box Hamiltonian but boundary conditions that respect PT\mathcal{PT}PT symmetry rather than Hermiticity. We find that for a broad class of PT\mathcal{PT}PT-symmetric boundary conditions the model respects the condition of unbroken PT\mathcal{PT}PT symmetry, namely, that the Hamiltonian and the symmetry operator PT\mathcal{PT}PT have simultaneous eigenfunctions, implying that the energy eigenvalues are real. We also find that the Hamiltonian is self-adjoint under the PT\mathcal{PT}PT-symmetric inner product. Thus we obtain a simple soluble model that fulfills all the requirements of PT\mathcal{PT}PT-symmetric quantum mechanics. In the second part of this paper we formulate a variational principle for PT\mathcal{PT}PT-symmetric quantum mechanics that is the analog of the textbook Rayleigh-Ritz principle. Finally we consider electromagnetic analogs of the PT\mathcal{PT}PT-symmetric particle in a box. We show that the isolated particle in a box may be realized as a Fabry-Perot cavity between an absorbing medium and its conjugate gain medium. Coupling the cavity to an external continuum of incoming and outgoing states turns the energy levels of the box into sharp resonances. Remarkably we find that the resonances have a Breit-Wigner line shape in transmission and a Fano line shape in reflection; by contrast, in the corresponding Hermitian case the line shapes always have a Breit-Wigner form in both transmission and reflection.
Recently, much research has been carried out on Hamiltonians that are not Hermitian but are symmetric under space-time reflection, that is, Hamiltonians that exhibit PT symmetry. Investigations of the Sturm-Liouville eigenvalue problem associated with such Hamiltonians have shown that in many cases the entire energy spectrum is real and positive and that the eigenfunctions form an orthogonal and complete basis. Furthermore, the quantum theories determined by such Hamiltonians have been shown to be consistent in the sense that the probabilities are positive and the dynamical trajectories are unitary. However, the geometrical structures that underlie quantum theories formulated in terms of such Hamiltonians have hitherto not been fully understood. This paper studies in detail the geometric properties of a Hilbert space endowed with a parity structure and analyses the characteristics of a PT-symmetric Hamiltonian and its eigenstates. A canonical relationship between a PT-symmetric operator and a Hermitian operator is established. It is shown that the quadratic form corresponding to the parity operator, in particular, gives rise to a natural partition of the Hilbert space into two halves corresponding to states having positive and negative PT norm. The indefiniteness of the norm can be circumvented by introducing a symmetry operator C that defines a positive definite inner product by means of a CPT conjugation operation.
Abstract Currently there is much interest in Hamiltonians that are not Hermitian but instead possess an antilinear PT symmetry. Here we seek to put such PT symmetric theories into as general a context as possible. After providing a brief overview of the PT symmetry program, we show that having an antilinear symmetry that acts on a well-defined Hilbert space is the most general condition that one can impose on a quantum theory for which one can have a well-defined inner product that is time independent, have a Hamiltonian that is self-adjoint, and have energy eigenvalues that are all real. For each of these properties Hermiticity is only a sufficient condition but not a necessary one, with Hermiticity thus being the special case in which the Hamiltonian has both antilinearity and Hermiticity. As well as being the necessary condition for the reality of energy eigenvalues, antilinearity in addition allows for the physically interesting cases of manifestly non-Hermitian but nonetheless self-adjoint Hamiltonians that have energy eigenvalues that appear in complex conjugate pairs, or that are Jordan block and cannot be diagonalized at all. We show that one can extend these ideas to quantum field theory, with the dual requirements of the existence of time independent inner products and invariance under complex Lorentz transformations forcing the antilinear symmetry to uniquely be CPT . We thus extend the CPT theorem to non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. For theories that are separately charge conjugation invariant, PT symmetry then follows, with the case for the physical relevance of the PT -symmetry program thus being advanced. While CPT symmetry can be defined at the classical level for every classical path in a path integral quantization procedure, in contrast, in such a path integral there is no reference at all to the Hermiticity of the Hamiltonian or the quantum Hilbert space on which it acts, as they are strictly quantum-mechanical concepts that can only be defined after the path integral quantization has been performed and the quantum Hilbert space has been constructed. CPT symmetry thus goes beyond Hermiticity and has primacy over it, with our work raising the question of how Hermiticity ever comes into quantum theory at all. To this end we show that whether or not a CPT -invariant theory has a Hamiltonian that is Hermitian is a property of the solutions to the theory and not of the Hamiltonian itself. Hermiticity thus never needs to be postulated at all.
The Hamiltonian H specifies the energy levels and time evolution of a quantum theory. A standard axiom of quantum mechanics requires that H be Hermitian because Hermiticity guarantees that the energy spectrum is real and that time evolution is unitary (probability-preserving). This paper describes an alternative formulation of quantum mechanics in which the mathematical axiom of Hermiticity (transpose + complex conjugate) is replaced by the physically transparent condition of space-time reflection (PT) symmetry. If H has an unbroken PT symmetry, then the spectrum is real. Examples of PT-symmetric non-Hermitian quantum-mechanical Hamiltonians are H=p^2+ix^3 and H=p^2-x^4. Amazingly, the energy levels of these Hamiltonians are all real and positive! In general, if H has an unbroken PT symmetry, then it has another symmetry represented by a linear operator C. Using C, one can construct a time-independent inner product with a positive-definite norm. Thus, PT-symmetric Hamiltonians describe a new class of complex quantum theories having positive probabilities and unitary time evolution. The Lee Model is an example of a PT-symmetric Hamiltonian. The renormalized Lee-model Hamiltonian has a negative-norm "ghost" state because renormalization causes the Hamiltonian to become non-Hermitian. For the past 50 years there have been many attempts to find a physical interpretation for the ghost, but all such attempts failed. Our interpretation of the ghost is simply that the non-Hermitian Lee Model Hamiltonian is PT-symmetric. The C operator for the Lee Model is calculated exactly and in closed form and the ghost is shown to be a physical state having a positive norm. The ideas of PT symmetry are illustrated by using many quantum-mechanical and quantum-field-theoretic models.
This paper proposes to broaden the canonical formulation of quantum mechanics.Ordinarily, one imposes the condition H † = H on the Hamiltonian, where † represents the mathematical operation of complex conjugation and matrix transposition.This conventional Hermiticity condition is sufficient to ensure that the Hamiltonian H has a real spectrum.However, replacing this mathematical condition by the weaker and more physical requirement H ‡ = H, where ‡ represents combined parity reflection and time reversal PT , one obtains new classes of complex Hamiltonians whose spectra are still real and positive.This generalization of Hermiticity is investigated using a complex deformation H = p 2 + x 2 (ix) ǫ of the harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian, where ǫ is a real parameter.The system exhibits two phases: When ǫ ≥ 0, the energy spectrum of H is real and positive as a consequence of PT symmetry.However, when -1 < ǫ < 0, the spectrum contains an infinite number of complex eigenvalues and a finite number of real, positive eigenvalues because PT symmetry is spontaneously broken.The phase transition that occurs at ǫ = 0 manifests itself in both the quantum-mechanical system and the underlying classical system.Similar qualitative features are exhibited by complex deformations of other standard real Hamiltonians H = p 2 + x 2N (ix) ǫ with N integer and ǫ > -N ; each of these complex Hamiltonians exhibits a phase transition at ǫ = 0.These PT -symmetric theories may be viewed as analytic continuations of conventional theories from real to complex phase space.
Based on the PT-symmetric quantum theory, the concepts of PT-frame, PT-symmetric operator and CPT-frame on a Hilbert space K and for an operator on K are proposed. It is proved that the spectrum and point spectrum of a PT-symmetric linear operator are both symmetric with respect to the real axis and the eigenvalues of an unbroken PT-symmetric operator are real. For a linear operator H on C d , it is proved that H has unbroken PT-symmetry if and only if it has d different eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenstates are eigenstates of PT. Given a CPT-frame on K, a new positive inner product on K is induced and called CPT-inner product. Te relationship between the CPT-adjoint and the Dirac adjoint of a densely defined linear operator is derived, and it is proved that an operator which has a bounded CPT-frame is CPT-Hermitian if and only if it is T-symmetric, in that case, it is similar to a Hermitian operator. The existence of an operator C consisting of a CPT-frame is discussed. These concepts and results will serve a mathematical discussion about PT-symmetric quantum mechanics.
In most introductory courses on quantum mechanics one is taught that the Hamiltonian operator must be Hermitian in order that the energy levels be real and that the theory be unitary (probability conserving). To express the Hermiticity of a Hamiltonian, one writes H = H †, where the symbol † denotes the usual Dirac Hermitian conjugation; that is, transpose and complex conjugate. In the past few years it has been recognized that the requirement of Hermiticity, which is often stated as an axiom of quantum mechanics, may be replaced by the less mathematical and more physical requirement of space – time reflection symmetry (𝒫𝒯 symmetry) without losing any of the essential physical features of quantum mechanics. Theories defined by non-Hermitian 𝒫𝒯-symmetric Hamiltonians exhibit strange and unexpected properties at the classical as well as at the quantum level. This paper explains how the requirement of Hermiticity can be evaded and discusses the properties of some non-Hermitian 𝒫𝒯-symmetric quantum theories.