In the present paper we study the deformed harmonic oscillator for the non-Hermitian operator [Formula: see text] where λ,θ are real positive parameters, since the parameters α,β,m are for the general case complex. For the case α=1,β=1 and mass m real, we find the eigenfunctions and eigenvalues of energy, the coherent states, the time evolution of the operators [Formula: see text] in the Heisenberg picture and the uncertainty relations. In this case the operator ℋ is Hermitian and PT-symmetric. Also for the case m complex α=1,β=1, the operator ℋ is non-Hermitian and no more PT symmetric, but CPT symmetric with real discrete positive spectrum and the CPT symmetry is preserved. In the general case α,β,m complex, for the non-Hermitian operator ℋ, we obtain complex spectrum and for the special values of the complex parameters α,β the spectrum is real discrete and positive and the CPT symmetry is preserved. The general problem of deformed oscillator for non hermitian operators can be applied to the Solid State Physics.
The PT-symmetric cubic oscillator with Hamiltonian H_3 = - (1/2) d_x^2 + (1/2) x^2 + i G x^3 is a paradigmatic example of a pseudo-Hermitian, or PT-symmetric Hamiltonian with a purely real spectrum when endowed with L^2(R) boundary conditions. Eigenfunctions of the stationary Schr\{o}dinger equation H_3 psi_n(x) = E_n psi_n(x) are manifestly complex, while the energy eigenvalues E_n are real and positive. Although H_3 does not commute with the parity operator, we find that for a natural choice of the global complex phase of the eigenstate wave function, the real and imaginary parts of the eigenfunctions [i.e., Re psi_n(x) and Im psi_n(x)] are eigenstates of parity. Both the real and imaginary parts of the eigenfunctions are found to have an infinite number of zeros, even for the ground state and even for infinitesimal G, but the real and imaginary parts of psi_n(x) never vanish simultaneously when G>0. Furthermore, we find that the eigenfunctions are concentrated in an allowed region where the energy E_n is larger than the complex modulus of the complex potential. PT-symmetric Hamiltonians constitute natural generalizations of Hermitian Hamiltonians as time-evolution operators. Our results suggest that PT-symmetric (pseudo-Hermitian) time evolution can naturally be interpreted as time evolution in a situation where manifestly complex gain and loss terms mutually compensate and lead to the real energy eigenvalues.
Abstract Anti-
PT symmetry,
(PT)H=−H(PT), is a plausible variant of
PT symmetry. Of particular interest is the situation when all the eigenstates of an anti-
PT-symmetric non-Hermitian Hamiltonian
H are also eigenstates of the
PT operator; then, the quasi-energies are purely imaginary, which implies that the Hermitian conjugate
H+=−H, and thus they are connected via the relation
(PT)H=H+PT, similar to the quasi-Hermiticity relation. Therefore, the eigenfunctions of the anti-
PT-symmetric
H form a complete orthonormal set with positive definite norms, and moreover the time evolution is unitary.
An analytical approximation for the eigenvalues of
PT symmetric Hamiltonians is developed via simple basis sets of harmonic-oscillator wave functions with variable frequencies and equilibrium positions. We demonstrate that our approximation provides high accuracy for the whole spectrum of the system.
The simple harmonic oscillator has a well-known normalizable, positive energy, bound state spectrum. We show that degenerate with each such positive energy eigenvalue there is a non-normalizable positive energy eigenstate whose eigenfunction is orthogonal to that of the standard energy eigenfunction. This class of states is not built on the vacuum that
a annihilates, but is instead built on the vacuum that
a†a annihilates. These non-normalizable but nonetheless stationary energy eigenstates are accompanied by yet another set of non-normalizable states, states whose wave functions however are not stationary but instead grow linearly in time. With these states not being energy eigenstates, the eigenbasis of the Hamiltonian is incomplete; with the full Hilbert space containing states that are not energy eigenstates. Thus each energy eigenvalue of the harmonic oscillator is an exceptional point at which the Hamiltonian becomes of non-diagonalizable, and thus manifestly non-Hermitian, Jordan-block form. Such non-Hermitian structures occur for Hamiltonians that have an antilinear
PT symmetry. As is characteristic of such systems, one can construct a probability conserving inner product that despite the linear in time growth is nonetheless time independent, and not only that, it leads to states with zero norm. In addition, as is again characteristic of
PT symmetry, these non-normalizable states can be made normalizable by a continuation into a so-called Stokes wedge domain in the complex plane. In this domain one has a completely consistent quantum theory, one that lives alongside the standard normalizable energy eigenspectrum sector. This thus not quite so simple harmonic oscillator provides an explicit realization of our general contention that antilinearity is more basic to quantum theory than Hermiticity.