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arXiv:2107.03414 · Communications Physics

Non-Hermitian skin clusters from strong interactions

Ruizhe Shen, Ching Hua Lee

Published Sep 24, 2022• 81 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract Strong, non-perturbative interactions often lead to new exciting physics, as epitomized by emergent anyons from the Fractional Quantum hall effect. Within the actively investigated domain of non-Hermitian physics, we discover a new family of states known as non-Hermitian skin clusters. Taking distinct forms as Vertex, Topological, Interface, Extended and Localized skin clusters, they generically originate from asymmetric correlated hoppings on a lattice, in the strongly interacting limit with quenched single-body energetics. Distinct from non-Hermitian skin modes which accumulate at boundaries, our skin clusters are predominantly translation invariant particle clusters. As purely interacting phenomena, they fall outside the purview of generalized Brillouin zone analysis, although our effective lattice formulation provides alternative analytic and topological characterization. Non-Hermitian skin clusters fundamentally originate from the fragmentation structure of the Hilbert space, and may thus be of significant interest in modern many-body contexts like the ETH and quantum scars.

DOI
10.1038/s42005-022-01015-w

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Abstract Strong, non-perturbative interactions often lead to new exciting physics, as epitomized by emergent anyons from the Fractional Quantum hall effect. Within the actively investigated domain of non-Hermitian physics, we discover a new family of states known as non-Hermitian skin clusters. Taking distinct forms as Vertex, Topological, Interface, Extended and Localized skin clusters, they generically originate from asymmetric correlated hoppings on a lattice, in the strongly interacting limit with quenched single-body energetics. Distinct from non-Hermitian skin modes which accumulate at boundaries, our skin clusters are predominantly translation invariant particle clusters. As purely interacting phenomena, they fall outside the purview of generalized Brillouin zone analysis, although our effective lattice formulation provides alternative analytic and topological characterization. Non-Hermitian skin clusters fundamentally originate from the fragmentation structure of the Hilbert space, and may thus be of significant interest in modern many-body contexts like the ETH and quantum scars.
Non-Hermiticity greatly expands existing physical laws beyond the Hermitian framework, revealing various novel phenomena with unique properties. Up to now, most exotic nonHermitian effects, such as exceptional points and non-Hermitian skin effects, are discovered in single-particle systems. The interplay between non-Hermitian and manybody correlation is expected to be a more fascinating but much less explored area. Due to the complexity of the problem, current researches in this field mainly stay at the theoretical level. The experimental observation of predicted non-Hermitian manybody phases is still a great challenging. Here, we report the first experimental simulation of strongly correlated non-Hermitian many-body system, and reveal a new type of nonHermitian many-body skin states toward effective boundaries in Hilbert space. Such an interaction-induced non-Hermitian many-body skin effect represents the aggregation of bosonic clusters with non-identical occupations in the periodic lattice. In particular, by mapping eigen-states of three correlated bosons to modes of the designed threedimensional electric circuit, non-Hermitian many-body skin effects in Hilbert space is verified by measuring the spatial impedance response. Our finding not only discloses a new physical effect in the non-Hermitian many-body system, but also suggests a flexible platform to further investigate other non-Hermitian correlated phases in experiments.
Non-Hermiticity greatly expands existing physical laws beyond the Hermitian framework, revealing various phenomena with unique properties. To date, most exotic non-Hermitian effects, such as exceptional points and non-Hermitian skin effects, have been discovered in single-particle systems. The interplay between non-Hermitian and particle interactions is expected to be a more fascinating but much less explored area. Here, we report an experimental simulation of a strongly correlated non-Hermitian few-body system and reveal a type of non-Hermitian skin state toward effective boundaries in Hilbert space induced by strong interactions. Such an interaction-induced non-Hermitian effect represents the aggregation of bosonic clusters with nonidentical occupations in the periodic lattice, and we call it the non-Hermitian aggregation effect. By mapping the eigenstates of three correlated bosons to modes of the designed three-dimensional electric circuit, the interaction-induced non-Hermitian aggregation effects in Hilbert space are verified by measuring the spatial impedance response. Our finding not only discloses a physical effect in the non-Hermitian system but also suggests a flexible platform to further investigate other non-Hermitian correlated phases in experiments.
Various exotic many-body phenomena such as quantum scars and fractons have been linked to Hilbert space fragmentation. In this work, we find that in non-Hermitian settings, Hilbert space connectivity has an even more universal and fundamental influence, tightly controlling the nature of spectral amplification and state localization. Far more complicated than real-space lattices, non-Hermitian many-body Hilbert space graphs not only possess intricate competing amplification channels, but also global feedback loops connecting remote Fock states related by particle symmetry. These features lead to amplification behavior with unconventional scaling and localization properties. Particle occupation constraints can furthermore remove selected Hilbert space pathways, leading to robust unipolar and asymmetric bipolar skin localization in otherwise reciprocal processes. These results extend beyond simple interacting bosonic models and establish Hilbert space connectivity as a versatile control knob for many-body non-Hermitian critical transitions.
Abstract We investigate distinct non-Hermitian skin effects (NHSEs) in real and Fock spaces induced by the interplay between the Hilbert space fragmentation and multiple non-Hermitian pumping channels. Using an extended Hatano–Nelson model with next-nearest neighbor hopping and strong interaction as an example, we found that two fermions loaded in the lattice exhibit different real-space NHSE depending on the Hilbert space fragments to which they belong. Moreover, in the high-energy sector resulting from fragmentation, the two-particle-bound states form a one-dimensional lattice in Fock space, producing a Fock-space NHSE. At half-filling, richer patterns of Fock-space skin-like localization emerge for the different fragmented energy sectors and subsectors while real-space NHSE is suppressed by many-body effects. This study extends our understanding of the interplay between NHSE and Hilbert space fragmentation and provides detailed insights into their manifestation in interacting non-Hermitian systems.
In contrast with extended Bloch waves, a single particle can become spatially localized due to the so-called skin effect originating from non-Hermitian pumping. Here we show that in kinetically constrained many-body systems, the skin effect can instead manifest as dynamical amplification within the Fock space, beyond the intuitively expected and previously studied particle localization and clustering. We exemplify this non-Hermitian Fock skin effect in an asymmetric version of the PXP model and show that it gives rise to ergodicity-breaking eigenstates-the non-Hermitian analogs of quantum many-body scars. A distinguishing feature of these non-Hermitian scars is their enhanced robustness against external disorders. We propose an experimental realization of the non-Hermitian scar enhancement in a tilted Bose-Hubbard optical lattice with laser-induced loss. Additionally, we implement digital simulations of such scar enhancement on the IBM quantum processor. Our results show that the Fock skin effect provides a powerful tool for creating robust nonergodic states in generic open quantum systems.
For decades, Hermiticity was considered an immutable axiom of quantum mechanics, essential for ensuring real energies and unitary evolution. This perspective has shifted radically, driven by the realization that non-Hermitian Hamiltonians provide a powerful effective description of open quantum systems, granting access to unique phenomena such as Exceptional Points and the Non-Hermitian Skin Effect. In this Perspective, we chart the trajectory of this field, moving from its established foundations in single-particle, linear models to the emerging frontier of interacting many-body systems. We first clarify the physical origins of non-Hermitian dynamics, distinguishing between mean-field approximations, conditional "no-click" evolution, and exact Liouvillian dynamics. We then focus on the rich phenomenology arising from the interplay of non-Hermiticity and interactions. We discuss interaction-induced topological phases, the generalization of skin effects to the many-body Hilbert space, and the distinct signatures of dissipative quantum chaos and complexity. Finally, we highlight collective phenomena in nonlinear regimes, including skin solitons and dissipative phase transitions. We also comment on measurement-induced entanglement transitions and their relation to non-Hermitian spectra and topology. By synthesizing these diverse developments, we provide a roadmap for the future of non-Hermitian physics.