Via several toy-model quantum Hamiltonians H(λ) of a non-tridiagonal low-dimensional matrix form the existence of unusual observability horizons is revealed. At the corresponding limiting values of parameter λ=λ(critical) these new types of quantum phase transitions are interpreted as the points of confluence of several decoupled Kato's exceptional points of equal or different orders. Such a phenomenon of degeneracy of non-Hermitian degeneracies seems to ask for a reclassification of the possible topologies of the complex energy Riemann surfaces in the vicinity of branch points.
Via several toy-model quantum Hamiltonians H(λ) of a non-tridiagonal low-dimensional matrix form the existence of unusual observability horizons is revealed. At the corresponding limiting values of parameter λ=λ(critical) these new types of quantum phase transitions are interpreted as the points of confluence of several decoupled Kato's exceptional points of equal or different orders. Such a phenomenon of degeneracy of non-Hermitian degeneracies seems to ask for a reclassification of the possible topologies of the complex energy Riemann surfaces in the vicinity of branch points.
The phenomenon of degeneracy of an N-plet of bound states is studied in the framework of the quasi-Hermitian (a.k.a. PT-symmetric) formulation of quantum theory of closed systems. For a general non-Hermitian Hamiltonian H=H(λ) such a degeneracy may occur at a real Kato's exceptional point λ^{(EPN)} of order N and of the geometric multiplicity alias clusterization index K. The corresponding unitary process of collapse (loss of observability) can be then interpreted as a generic quantum phase transition. The dedicated literature deals, predominantly, with the non-numerical benchmark models of the simplest processes where K=1. In our present paper it is shown that in the "anomalous" dynamical scenarios with 1<K≤N/2 an analogous approach is applicable. A multiparametric anharmonic-oscillator-type exemplification of such systems is constructed as a set of real-matrix N by N Hamiltonians which are exactly solvable, maximally non-Hermitian, and labeled by specific ad hoc partitionings R(N) of N.
Quantum phase transition is interpreted as an evolution, at the end of which a parameter-dependent Hamiltonian H(g) loses its observability. In the language of mathematics, such a quantum catastrophe occurs at an exceptional point of order N (EPN). Although the Hamiltonian H(g) itself becomes unphysical in the limit of g→gEPN, it is shown that it can play the role of an unperturbed operator in a perturbation-approximation analysis of the vicinity of the EPN singularity. Such an analysis is elementary at N≤3 and numerical at N≥5, so we pick up N=4. We demonstrate that the specific EP4 degeneracy becomes accessible via a unitary evolution process realizable inside a parametric domain Dphysical, the boundaries of which are determined non-numerically. Possible relevance of such a mathematical result in the context of non-Hermitian photonics is emphasized.
A family of non-Hermitian real and tridiagonal-matrix candidates H(N)(λ)=H0(N)+λW(N)(λ) for a hiddenly Hermitian (a.k.a. quasi-Hermitian) quantum Hamiltonian is proposed and studied. Fairly weak assumptions are imposed upon the unperturbed matrix [the square-well-simulating spectrum of H0(N) is not assumed equidistant)] and upon its maximally non-Hermitian N-parametric antisymmetric-matrix perturbations [matrix W(N)(λ) is not even required to be PT-symmetric]. Despite that, the “physical” parametric domain D[N] is (constructively) shown to exist, guaranteeing that in its interior, the spectrum remains real and non-degenerate, rendering the quantum evolution unitary. Among the non-Hermitian degeneracies occurring at the boundary ∂D[N] of the domain of stability, our main attention is paid to their extreme version corresponding to Kato’s exceptional point of order N (EPN). The localization of the EPNs and, in their vicinity, of the quantum-phase-transition boundaries ∂D[N] is found feasible, at the not too large N, using computer-assisted symbolic manipulations, including, in particular, the Gröbner-basis elimination and the high-precision arithmetics.
An interplay of an exotic quantum holonomy and exceptional points is examined in one-dimensional Bose systems. The eigenenergy anholonomy, in which Hermitian adiabatic cycle induces nontrivial change in eigenenergies, can be interpreted as a manifestation of eigenenergy's Riemann surface structure, where the branch points are identified as the exceptional points which are degeneracy points in the complexified parameter space. It is also shown that the exceptional points are the divergent points of the non-Abelian gauge connection for the gauge theoretical formulation of the eigenspace anholonomy. This helps us to evaluate anti-path-ordered exponentials of the gauge connection to obtain gauge covariant quantities.
The phenomenon of degeneracy of an N−plet of bound states is studied in the framework of quantum theory of closed (i.e., unitary) systems. For an underlying Hamiltonian H=H(λ) the degeneracy occurs at a Kato's exceptional point λ(EPN) of order N and of the spectral geometric multiplicity K2 and K>1 benchmark models of the process of degeneracy becomes feasible and non-numerical for a broad class of specific, maximally non-Hermitian anharmonic-oscillator toy-model Hamiltonians. An exhaustive classification of non-equivalent processes is given by a partitioning of the unperturbed spectrum into equidistant and centered unperturbed subspectra.
Exceptional points (EPs) are conventionally identified through eigenvector coalescence, inaccessible in classical platforms lacking a Hamiltonian spectrum. We introduce classical observable coalescence as a diagnostic identifying EPs directly from physical configurations, and demonstrate it in a known non-Hermitian Ising chain with coupling J and staggered imaginary field γ, chosen for verifiability against established quantum results. A mean-field reduction of the Heisenberg dynamics yields equilibrium branches organising into two symmetry-related families whose fusion at the boundary of the EP supersurface ∣γ∣=∣J∣ exhibits the characteristic J2−γ2 branch-point structure and two-sheeted Riemann topology. Crucially, the degeneracy at $γ=0,η=0 $ is shown to be a diabolic point, producing no observable coalescence, establishing the diagnostic as discriminating rather than merely suggestive. An exact Jordan-Wigner and Bogoliubov-de Gennes treatment confirms eigenvector coalescence at the same threshold, and a coupled gain-loss circuit realisation is proposed, establishing classical observables as experimentally accessible signatures of non-Hermitian criticality.