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arXiv:1809.09918 · Physical Review Letters

Simulating Broken PT -Symmetric Hamiltonian Systems by Weak Measurement

Minyi Huang, Ray‐Kuang Lee, Lijian Zhang, Shao-Ming Fei, Junde Wu

Published Aug 23, 2019• 36 citations
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Abstract

By embedding a PT-symmetric (pseudo-Hermitian) system into a large Hermitian one, we disclose the relations between PT-symmetric quantum theory and weak measurement theory. We show that the weak measurement can give rise to the inner product structure of PT-symmetric systems, with the preselected state and its postselected state resident in the dilated conventional system. Typically in quantum information theory, by projecting out the irrelevant degrees and projecting onto the subspace, even local broken PT-symmetric Hamiltonian systems can be effectively simulated by this weak measurement paradigm.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.123.080404

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Quantum Simulation of Pseudo-Hermitian-φ-Symmetric Two-Level Systems

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Non-Hermitian (NH) quantum theory has been attracting increased research interest due to its featured properties, novel phenomena, and links to open and dissipative systems. Typical NH systems include PT-symmetric systems, pseudo-Hermitian systems, and their anti-symmetric counterparts. In this work, we generalize the pseudo-Hermitian systems to their complex counterparts, which we call pseudo-Hermitian-φ-symmetric systems. This complex extension adds an extra degree of freedom to the original symmetry. On the one hand, it enlarges the non-Hermitian class relevant to pseudo-Hermiticity. On the other hand, the conventional pseudo-Hermitian systems can be understood better as a subgroup of this wider class. The well-defined inner product and pseudo-inner product are still valid. Since quantum simulation provides a strong method to investigate NH systems, we mainly investigate how to simulate this novel system in a Hermitian system using the linear combination of unitaries in the scheme of duality quantum computing. We illustrate in detail how to simulate a general P-pseudo-Hermitian-φ-symmetric two-level system. Duality quantum algorithms have been recently successfully applied to similar types of simulations, so we look forward to the implementation of available quantum devices.

Entropy•Jun 24, 2022•8 citations
By embedding a PT-symmetric (pseudo-Hermitian) system into a large Hermitian one, we disclose the relations between PT-symmetric quantum theory and weak measurement theory. We show that the weak measurement can give rise to the inner product structure of PT-symmetric systems, with the preselected state and its postselected state resident in the dilated conventional system. Typically in quantum information theory, by projecting out the irrelevant degrees and projecting onto the subspace, even local broken PT-symmetric Hamiltonian systems can be effectively simulated by this weak measurement paradigm.
The broken PT\cal PTPT -symmetric hamiltonians and the weak measurement
In this paper, we discuss the relation of broken PT\cal PTPT-symmetric hamiltonians and the weak values. It was showed that a broken PT\cal PTPT-symmetric quantum system can be simulated by weak measurement in a large conventional quantum system. Moreover, such a paradigm reduces to the embedding paradigm when the system is unbroken PT\cal PTPT-symmetric.
Two non-Hermitian PT-symmetric Hamiltonian systems are reconsidered by means of the algebraic method which was originally proposed for the pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian systems rather than for the PT-symmetric ones. Compared with the way converting a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian to its Hermitian counterpart, this method has the merit that keeps the Hilbert space of the non-Hermitian PT-symmetric Hamiltonian unchanged. In order to give the positive definite inner product for the PT-symmetric systems, a new operator V, instead of C, can be introduced. The operator V has the similar function to the operator C adopted normally in the PT-symmetric quantum mechanics, however, it can be constructed, as an advantage, directly in terms of Hamiltonians. The spectra of the two non-Hermitian PT-symmetric systems are obtained, which coincide with that given in literature, and in particular, the Hilbert spaces associated with positive definite inner products are worked out.
For a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian H possessing a real spectrum, we introduce a canonical orthonormal basis in which a previously introduced unitary mapping of H to a Hermitian Hamiltonian h takes a simple form. We use this basis to construct the observables O α of the quantum mechanics based on H . In particular, we introduce pseudo-Hermitian position and momentum operators and a pseudo-Hermitian quantization scheme that relates the latter to the ordinary classical position and momentum observables. These allow us to address the problem of determining the conserved probability density and the underlying classical system for pseudo-Hermitian and in particular PT -symmetric quantum systems. As a concrete example we construct the Hermitian Hamiltonian h , the physical observables O α , the localized states and the conserved probability density for the non-Hermitian PT -symmetric square well. We achieve this by employing an appropriate perturbation scheme. For this system, we conduct a comprehensive study of both the kinematical and dynamical effects of the non-Hermiticity of the Hamiltonian on various physical quantities. In particular, we show that these effects are quantum mechanical in nature and diminish in the classical limit. Our results provide an objective assessment of the physical aspects of PT -symmetric quantum mechanics and clarify its relationship with both conventional quantum mechanics and classical mechanics.
The objective of this paper is to explain and elucidate the formalism of PT quantum mechanics by applying it to a well-known problem in conventional Hermitian quantum mechanics, namely the problem of state discrimination. Suppose that a system is known to be in one of two quantum states, |ψ(1)> or |ψ(2)>. If these states are not orthogonal, then the requirement of unitarity forbids the possibility of discriminating between these two states with one measurement; that is, determining with one measurement what state the system is in. In conventional quantum mechanics, there is a strategy in which successful state discrimination can be achieved with a single measurement but only with a success probability p that is less than unity. In this paper, the state-discrimination problem is examined in the context of PT quantum mechanics and the approach is based on the fact that a non-Hermitian PT-symmetric Hamiltonian determines the inner product that is appropriate for the Hilbert space of physical states. It is shown that it is always possible to choose this inner product so that the two states |ψ(1)> and |ψ(2)> are orthogonal. Using PT quantum mechanics, one cannot achieve a better state discrimination than in ordinary quantum mechanics, but one can instead perform a simulated quantum state discrimination, in which with a single measurement a perfect state discrimination is realized with probability p.
Update: A time-independent n×nn\times nn×n PT-symmetric (and symmetric) Hamiltonian is diagonalizable since it has all distinct real eigenvalues and the resulting diagonal matrix is a real symmetric matrix. The diagonalization results an isometry so there shouldn't be any issue with unitarity and unfortunately this very elementary mathematical fact somehow did not draw the authors' attention. However, PT-symmetric quantum mechanics is not out of trouble. For time-dependent PT-symmetric (and symmetric) Hamiltonians (even 2×22\times 22×2 ones) the authors observed that there is a violation of unitarity. Moreover, the first named author showed in his recent article arXiv:1312.7738 that PT-symmetric quantum mechanics is indeed a certain kind of Hermitian quantum mechanics and that in order for time-evolution to be unitary with respect to JJJ-inner product (one that gives rise to a Hilbert space structure on the space of state functions), the potential energy operator V(x)V(x)V(x) must be real. This means that those complex PT-symmetric Hamiltonians that have been studied by physicists are unfortunately unphysical. The first named author discussed in a subsequent article arXiv:1401.5149 that while finite-state PT-symmetric quantum mechanics with time-independent Hamiltonians is not physically any different from Hermitian quantum mechanics, PT-symmetric quantum mechanics exhibits a distinctive symmetry from that of Hermitian quantum mechanics.
Non-Hermitian (NH) quantum theory has been attracting increased research interest due to its featured properties, novel phenomena, and links to open and dissipative systems. Typical NH systems include PT-symmetric systems, pseudo-Hermitian systems, and their anti-symmetric counterparts. In this work, we generalize the pseudo-Hermitian systems to their complex counterparts, which we call pseudo-Hermitian-φ-symmetric systems. This complex extension adds an extra degree of freedom to the original symmetry. On the one hand, it enlarges the non-Hermitian class relevant to pseudo-Hermiticity. On the other hand, the conventional pseudo-Hermitian systems can be understood better as a subgroup of this wider class. The well-defined inner product and pseudo-inner product are still valid. Since quantum simulation provides a strong method to investigate NH systems, we mainly investigate how to simulate this novel system in a Hermitian system using the linear combination of unitaries in the scheme of duality quantum computing. We illustrate in detail how to simulate a general P-pseudo-Hermitian-φ-symmetric two-level system. Duality quantum algorithms have been recently successfully applied to similar types of simulations, so we look forward to the implementation of available quantum devices.