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arXiv:2008.12844 · Proceedings of the Royal Society A Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences

Unitary unfoldings of a Bose–Hubbard exceptional point with and without particle number conservation

Miloslav Znojil

Published Oct 1, 2020• 7 citations
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Abstract

The conventional non-Hermitian but P T -symmetric three-parametric Bose–Hubbard Hamiltonian H ( γ , v , c ) represents a quantum system of N bosons, unitary only for parameters γ , v and c in a domain D . Its boundary ∂ D contains an exceptional point of order K (EPK; K = N + 1) at c = 0 and γ = v , but even at the smallest non-vanishing parameter c ≠ ~0 the spectrum of H ( v , v , c ) ceases to be real, i.e. the system ceases to be observable. In this paper, the question is inverted: all of the stable, unitary and observable Bose–Hubbard quantum systems are sought which would lie close to the phenomenologically most interesting EPK-related dynamical regime. Two different families of such systems are found. Both of them are characterized by the perturbed Hamiltonians H ( λ ) = H ( v , v , 0 ) + λ V for which the unitarity and stability of the system is guaranteed. In the first family the number N of bosons is assumed conserved while in the second family such an assumption is relaxed. Attention is paid mainly to an anisotropy of the physical Hilbert space near the EPK extreme. We show that it is reflected by a specific, operationally realizable structure of perturbations λ V which can be considered small.

DOI
10.1098/rspa.2020.0292

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The conventional non-Hermitian but P T -symmetric three-parametric Bose–Hubbard Hamiltonian H ( γ , v , c ) represents a quantum system of N bosons, unitary only for parameters γ , v and c in a domain D . Its boundary ∂ D contains an exceptional point of order K (EPK; K = N + 1) at c = 0 and γ = v , but even at the smallest non-vanishing parameter c ≠ ~0 the spectrum of H ( v , v , c ) ceases to be real, i.e. the system ceases to be observable. In this paper, the question is inverted: all of the stable, unitary and observable Bose–Hubbard quantum systems are sought which would lie close to the phenomenologically most interesting EPK-related dynamical regime. Two different families of such systems are found. Both of them are characterized by the perturbed Hamiltonians H ( λ ) = H ( v , v , 0 ) + λ V for which the unitarity and stability of the system is guaranteed. In the first family the number N of bosons is assumed conserved while in the second family such an assumption is relaxed. Attention is paid mainly to an anisotropy of the physical Hilbert space near the EPK extreme. We show that it is reflected by a specific, operationally realizable structure of perturbations λ V which can be considered small.
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.
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Quantum phase transition is interpreted as an evolution, at the end of which a parameter-dependent Hamiltonian H(g)H(g)H(g) loses its observability. In the language of mathematics, such a quantum catastrophe occurs at an exceptional point of order NNN (EPN). Although the Hamiltonian H(g)H(g)H(g) itself becomes unphysical in the limit of g→gEPNg \to g^{EPN}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≤3N\leq 3N≤3 and numerical at N≥5N\geq 5N≥5, so we pick up N=4N=4N=4. We demonstrate that the specific EP4 degeneracy becomes accessible via a unitary evolution process realizable inside a parametric domain Dphysical{\cal D}_{\rm physical}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.
The description of unitary evolution using non-Hermitian but ‘hermitizable’ Hamiltonians H is feasible via an ad hoc metric Θ = Θ ( H ) and a (non-unique) amendment 〈 ψ 1 | ψ 2 〉 → 〈 ψ 1 | Θ | ψ 2 〉 of the inner product in Hilbert space. Via a proper fine-tuning of Θ ( H ) this opens the possibility of reaching the boundaries of stability (i.e. exceptional points) in many quantum systems sampled here by the fairly realistic Bose–Hubbard (BH) and discrete anharmonic oscillator (AO) models. In such a setting, it is conjectured that the EP singularity can play the role of a quantum phase-transition interface between different dynamical regimes. Three alternative ‘AO ↔ BH’ implementations of such an EP-mediated dynamical transmutation scenario are proposed and shown, at an arbitrary finite Hilbert-space dimension N , exact and non-numerical.
We in this paper study the relation of hermiticity and energy spectrum for Hamiltonians consisting of SU(1,1)SU(1,1)SU(1,1) generators. In contrast with the common belief, the transition from real to imaginary spectra can appear at an exceptional point for the Hermitian Hamiltonian of a conservative system. The imaginary domain of spectrum resulted from an inverted potential well unbounded from below. An outward force applies on the particle, which moves acceleratingly away from the central point similar to the minisuperspace model of expanding universe. The Hamiltonian remains Hermitian beyond the exceptional point in a price that the boson-operator realization of SU(1,1)SU(1,1)SU(1,1) generator S^z\widehat{S}_{z}Sz​ becomes non-Hermitian. Oppositely a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian (called pseudo-Hermitian) possesses real eigenvalues in the entire region of interaction constant, which increases the gradient of potential well. While the Hermitian interaction decreases the gradient continuously to zero, namely the exceptional point, where eigenstates are degenerate. We extend the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian to the periodically time-dependent and two-dimensional system. The probability density of wave function coincides with classical orbits, which are derived from the corresponding classical-counterpart of the non-Hermitian quantum Hamiltonian.
Exceptional points (EPs), as an exclusive feature of a non-Hermitian system, support coalescing states to be alternative stable state beyond the ground state. In this work, we explore the influence of non-Hermitian impurities on the dynamic formation of condensate states in one-, two-, and three-dimensional extended Bose-Hubbard systems with strong on-site interaction. Based on the solution for the hardcore limit, we show exactly that condensate modes with off-diagonal long-range order (ODLRO) can exist when certain system parameters satisfy specific matching conditions. Under open boundary conditions, the condensate states become coalescing states when the non-Hermitian \mathcal{PT} 𝒫 𝒯 -symmetric boundary gives rise to the EPs. The fundamental mechanism behind this phenomenon is uncovered through analyzing the scattering dynamics of many-particle wavepackets at the non-Hermitian boundaries. The EP dynamics facilitate the dynamic generation of condensate states with non-zero momentum. To further substantiate the theoretical findings, numerical simulations are conducted. This study not only unveils the potential condensation of interacting bosons but also offers an approach for the engineering of condensate states.