We reveal the continuous phase transition in anyonic-PT symmetric systems, contrasting with the discontinuous phase transition corresponding to the discrete (anti-) PT symmetry. The continuous phase transition originates from the continuity of anyonic-PT symmetry. We find there are three information-dynamics patterns for anyonic-PT symmetric systems: damped oscillations with an overall decrease (increase) and asymptotically stable damped oscillations, which are three-fold degenerate and distorted using the Hermitian quantum Rényi entropy or distinguishability. It is the normalization of the non-unitary evolved density matrix causes the degeneracy and distortion. We give a justification for non-Hermitian quantum Rényi entropy being negative. By exploring the mathematics and physical meaning of the negative entropy in open quantum systems, we connect the negative non-Hermitian quantum Rényi entropy and negative quantum conditional entropy, opening up a new journey to rigorously investigate the negative entropy in open quantum systems.
We reveal the continuous phase transition in anyonic-PT symmetric systems, contrasting with the discontinuous phase transition corresponding to the discrete (anti-) PT symmetry. The continuous phase transition originates from the continuity of anyonic-PT symmetry. We find there are three information-dynamics patterns for anyonic-PT symmetric systems: damped oscillations with an overall decrease (increase) and asymptotically stable damped oscillations, which are three-fold degenerate and distorted using the Hermitian quantum Rényi entropy or distinguishability. It is the normalization of the non-unitary evolved density matrix causes the degeneracy and distortion. We give a justification for non-Hermitian quantum Rényi entropy being negative. By exploring the mathematics and physical meaning of the negative entropy in open quantum systems, we connect the negative non-Hermitian quantum Rényi entropy and negative quantum conditional entropy, opening up a new journey to rigorously investigate the negative entropy in open quantum systems.
We reveal the continuous change of information dynamics patterns in anyonic-PT symmetric systems that originates from the continuity of anyonic-PT symmetry. We find there are three information dynamics patterns for anyonic-PT symmetric systems: damped oscillations with an overall decrease (increase) and asymptotically stable damped oscillations, which are three-fold degenerate and are distorted using the Hermitian quantum Rényi entropy or distinguishability. It is the normalization of the non-unitary evolved density matrix that causes the degeneracy and distortion. We give a justification for non-Hermitian quantum Rényi entropy being negative. By exploring the mathematics and physical meaning of the negative entropy in open quantum systems, we connect negative non-Hermitian quantum Rényi entropy and negative quantum conditional entropy, paving the way to rigorously investigate negative entropy in open quantum systems.
In this study, we investigate qubit dynamics under PT and Anti-PT-symmetric non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, focusing on phase evolution, decoherence, quantum speed limits (QSL), and Rényi entanglement entropies. Using similarity transformations and Dyson maps, we analyze the reduced density matrix evolution in bosonic environments. Anti-PT-symmetric systems show enhanced robustness against decoherence, with slower entropy growth and longer coherence times compared to PT-symmetric counterparts. QSL behavior is non-monotonic, reflecting rapid initial evolution followed by a gradual decrease. Higher-order Rényi entropies reveal that Anti-PT-symmetric qubits preserve quantum information more effectively, offering advantages for memory and cryptographic applications.
The PT -symmetric non-Hermitian systems have been widely studied and explored both in theory and in experiment due to their various interesting features.In this work we focus on the dynamical features of a triplequbit system, one of which evolves under a local PT -symmetric Hamiltonian.An abnormal dynamic pattern in the entropy evolution process is identified that presents a parameter-dependent stable state, determined by the non-Hermiticity of Hamiltonian in the broken phase of PT symmetry.The entanglement and mutual information of a two-body subsystem can increase beyond the initial values, which do not exist in the Hermitian and two-qubit PT -symmetric systems.Moreover, an experimental demonstration of the stable states in non-Hermitian systems with nonzero entropy and entanglement is realized on a four-qubit quantum simulator with nuclear spins.Our work reveals the distinctive dynamic features in the triple-qubit PT -symmetric system and paves the way for practical quantum simulation of multiparty non-Hermitian system on quantum computers.
Non-Hermitian (NH) quantum systems attract research interest increasingly in recent years, among which the PT-symmetric, P-pseudo-Hermitian and their anti-symmetric counterpart systems are focused much more. In this work, we extend the usage of entropy to distinguish time-evolutions of different classes and phases of typical NH-systems. In detail, we investigate the entropy dynamics of two-level NH-systems after quantum decoherence induced by single-qubit projective measurements, finding that it depends on both the initial states and the selection of the computational bases of the measurements. In a general case, we show how to distinguish all the eight phases of the above NH-systems step by step, in which process three different initial states are necessary if the basis of measurement is fixed. We propose how the distinguishing process is realized in quantum simulation, in which quantum tomography is not needed. Our investigations can be applied to judge phase transitions of non-Hermitian systems.
A parity-time (PT) transition is a spectral transition characteristic of non-Hermitian generators; it typically occurs at an exceptional point, where multiple eigenvectors coalesce. The concept of a PT transition has been extended to Markovian open quantum systems, which are described by the GKSL equation. Interestingly, the PT transition in many-body Markovian open quantum systems, the so-called \textit{Lindbladian PT (L-PT) phase transition}, is closely related to two classes of exotic nonequilibrium many-body phenomena: \textit{continuous-time crystals} and \textit{non-reciprocal phase transitions}. In this review, we describe the recent advances in the study of L-PT phase transitions. First, we define PT symmetry in three distinct contexts: non-Hermitian systems, nonlinear dynamical systems, and Markovian open quantum systems, highlighting the interconnections between these frameworks. Second, we develop mean-field theories of L-PT phase transitions for collective-spin systems and for bipartite bosonic systems with particle-number conservation. Within these classes of models, we show that L-PT symmetry can induce a breaking of continuous time-translation symmetry down to a discrete one, leading to persistent periodic dynamics. We further demonstrate that the L-PT phase transition point is typically \textit{a critical exceptional point}, where multiple collective excitation modes with zero excitation spectrum coalesce. These findings establish an explicit connection to continuous-time crystals and non-reciprocal phase transitions. Third, going beyond the mean-field theory, we analyze statistical and quantum properties, such as purity and quantum entanglement indicators of time-independent steady states for several specific models with the L-PT symmetry. Finally, we discuss future research directions for L-PT phase transitions.
Analysis of fundamentally open systems which exhibit both spatial reflection (parity) and time-reversal symmetry, called PT-symmetric [1] systems, has played an important role in understanding the dynamics of a broad class of non-Hermitian systems. Such systems support distinct regimes of stability and instability respectively, and the transition between these plays an important role in the system dynamics. We investigate a variety of non-Hermitian systems which exhibit a PT-symmetry breaking transition in both classical and quantum contexts using an array of theoretical and numerical approaches which are directly amenable to physical experiments. Organizationally, we divide these studies into those done on classical and quantum systems. Specifically for classical systems we analyze several interesting phenomena in the context of optical waveguide arrays. These provide an important testing ground for much of the discrete, PT-symmetric theory. In our case, we analyze PT-symmetric extensions of several interesting lattice models. Firstly, we explore single gain/loss pair, PT-symmetric extensions of the Su-Schreiffer-Heeger (SSH) model [2] and the Aubry-Andre-Harper (AAH) model [3,4]. In both cases, we find a veiled symmetry which is responsible for the PT-symmetry. Secondly we expand upon the Rudner-Levitov (RL) model [5,6], a non-Hermitian extension of the SSH model with multiple gain/loss pairs, and we explore the dependence of topological phenomena on changes in the initial state as well as their robustness in the presence of gain-induced nonlinearity. For quantum systems, we explore the rich PT-symmetric phase diagram resulting from time-periodic, Floquet PT-symmetry [7,8]. This is experimentally implementable in ultracold atomic systems [9], and features a reentrant PT-symmetric phase. Secondly, we examine quantum multi-photon statistics for a simple non-Hermitian model which is transformed and mapped to a system with unitary evolution via a unitary dilation, and is fully realizable on a small-scale quantum simulator [10].