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arXiv:2402.06148

Imaginary eigenvalues of Hermitian Hamiltonian with an inverted potential well and transition to the real spectrum at exceptional point by a non-Hermitian interaction

Ni Liu, Luo, Meng, J. -Q. Liang

Published Feb 9, 2024• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We in this paper study the hermiticity of Hamiltonian and energy spectrum for the SU(1; 1) systems. The Hermitian Hamiltonian can possess imaginary eigenvalues in contrast with the common belief that hermiticity is a suffcient condition for real spectrum. The imaginary eigenvalues are derived in algebraic method with imaginary-frequency boson operators for the Hamiltonian of inverted potential well. Dual sets of mutually orthogonal eigenstates are required corresponding respectively to the complex conjugate eigenvalues. Arbitrary order eigenfunctions seen to be the polynomials of imaginary frequency are generated from the normalized ground-state wave functions, which are spatially non localized. The Hamiltonian including a non-Hermitian interaction term can be converted by similarity transformation to the Hermitian one with an effective potential of reduced slope, which is turnable by the interaction constant. The transformation operator should not be unitary but Hermitian different from the unitary transformation in ordinary quantum mechanics. The effective potential vanishes at a critical value of coupling strength called the exceptional point, where all eigenstates are degenerate with zero eigenvalue and transition from imaginary to real spectra appears. The SU(1; 1) generator $\widehat{S}_{z}$ with real eigenvalues determined by the commutation relation of operators, however, is non-Hermitian in the realization of imaginay-frequency boson operators. The classical counterpart of the quantum Hamiltonian with non-Hermitian interaction is a complex function of the canonical variables. It becomes by the canonical transformation of variables a real function indicating exactly the one to one quantum-classical correspondence of Hamiltonians.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2402.06148

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We in this paper study the hermiticity of Hamiltonian and energy spectrum for the SU(1; 1) systems. The Hermitian Hamiltonian can possess imaginary eigenvalues in contrast with the common belief that hermiticity is a suffcient condition for real spectrum. The imaginary eigenvalues are derived in algebraic method with imaginary-frequency boson operators for the Hamiltonian of inverted potential well. Dual sets of mutually orthogonal eigenstates are required corresponding respectively to the complex conjugate eigenvalues. Arbitrary order eigenfunctions seen to be the polynomials of imaginary frequency are generated from the normalized ground-state wave functions, which are spatially non localized. The Hamiltonian including a non-Hermitian interaction term can be converted by similarity transformation to the Hermitian one with an effective potential of reduced slope, which is turnable by the interaction constant. The transformation operator should not be unitary but Hermitian different from the unitary transformation in ordinary quantum mechanics. The effective potential vanishes at a critical value of coupling strength called the exceptional point, where all eigenstates are degenerate with zero eigenvalue and transition from imaginary to real spectra appears. The SU(1; 1) generator S^z\widehat{S}_{z}Sz​ with real eigenvalues determined by the commutation relation of operators, however, is non-Hermitian in the realization of imaginay-frequency boson operators. The classical counterpart of the quantum Hamiltonian with non-Hermitian interaction is a complex function of the canonical variables. It becomes by the canonical transformation of variables a real function indicating exactly the one to one quantum-classical correspondence of Hamiltonians.
Abstract We in this paper study the hermiticity of Hamiltonian and energy spectrum for the SU (1, 1) systems. The Hermitian Hamiltonian can possess imaginary eigenvalues if the potential is unbounded below like the Gamow state in nuclear physics. We provide a rigorous quantization for the Hermitian Hamiltonian of inverted harmonic oscillator with the imaginary eigenvalues, which are derived in algebraic method with imaginary frequency boson operators. Dual sets of mutually orthogonal eigenstates are required corresponding respectively to the complex conjugate eigenvalues. Arbitrary order eigenfunctions are generated from the normalized ground state wave functions, which are spatially non-localized. The Hamiltonian including a non-Hermitian interaction term can be converted by similarity transformation to the Hermitian one with an effective potential of reduced slope, which can be manipulated by the interaction constant. The transformation operator is Hermitian different from the unitary transformation in ordinary quantum mechanics. The effective potential vanishes at a critical value of coupling strength called the exceptional point (EP), where all eigenstates are degenerate with zero eigenvalue. The spectrum becomes real beyond the EP just opposite to the usual transition direction. The classical counterpart of the quantum Hamiltonian with non-Hermitian interaction is a complex function of canonical variables. It becomes by the canonical transformation of variables a real function. The quantum–classical correspondence exists precisely for the system with imaginary eigenvalues.
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.
With a view to getting further insight into the solutions of one-dimensional analogous Schr?dinger equation for a non-hermitian (complex) Hamiltonian system, we investigate the quasi-exact PT- symmetric solutions for an octic potential and its variant using extended complex phase space approach characterized by x=x1+ip2, p=p1+ix2, where (x1, p1) and (x2, p2) are real and considered as canonical pairs. Besides the complexity of the phase space, complexity of potential parameters is also considered. The analyticity property of the eigenfunction alone is found sufficient to throw light on the nature of eigenvalue and eigenfunction of a system. The imaginary part of energy eigenvalue of a non-hermitian Hamiltonian exist for complex potential parameters and reduces to zero for real parameters. However, in the present work, it is found that imaginary component of the energy eigenvalue vanishes even when potential parameters are complex, provided that PT-symmetric condition is satisfied. Thus PT- symmetric version of a non-hermitian Hamiltonian possesses the real eigenvalue.
With a view to obtaining further insight into the nature of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of a stationary state one-dimensional Schrödinger equation corresponding to a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian H ( x , p ) we investigate the ground-state solutions for a variety of potentials within the framework of an extended complex phase space characterized by x = x 1 + i p 2 , p = p 1 + i x 2 , where ( x 1 , p 1 ) and ( x 2 , p 2 ) are real and considered as canonical pairs. The analyticity property of the eigenfunction alone is found sufficient to throw light on the nature of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions for different systems. It is noted that the imaginary part of the eigenvalue, E i , turns out to be zero for all potentials V ( x ) with real couplings whereas it turns out to be nonzero for the case when the couplings are complex. The prescription is also extended to study the excited states. The problems related to the normalization of the eigenfunction and the boundary conditions to be used within this framework are also discussed.
Based on the generalized gauge transformation and invariant methods, we study in this work the rigorous solution for non-Hermitian Hamiltonians consisting of SU(1, 1) and SU(2) generators, which describe the harmonic oscillator and a single spin of arbitrary spin value, respectively, in periodically time-dependent fields. A non-Hermitian Hamiltonian with real eigenvalues is called pseudo-Hermitian. Such a Hamiltonian can be converted to a Hermitian one by a similarity transformation. We extend the concept of pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians to the time-dependent case. Under the generalized gauge transformation with a time-dependent Hermitian operator, the Hamiltonian becomes Hermitian and time-independent in the new gauge. The rigorous solution, as well as the Berry phase, is obtained by applying the inverse transformation to return to the original gauge. The time-dependent Schrödinger equation is also solved in terms of non-Hermitian invariant operators, which possess conserved real eigenvalues. We derive the time-dependent solutions and corresponding geometric phases by eigenstate expansion of the invariant operators, combined with the time-evolution operator. It is observed that the non-Hermitian coupling constant indeed has an exceptional point Gc(ω) for the SU(2) non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, where all eigenstates are degenerate with zero eigenvalue and the Berry phase diverges. The eigenvalues become complex beyond Gc(ω) . However, the eigenvalues are real within the entire region of coupling constant for the SU(1, 1) system, different from the common belief that the exceptional point must exist in the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. The classical counterpart of the SU(1, 1) non-Hermitian Hamiltonian is, in fact, a complex function of position-momentum variables. It can be converted to a real function via the generalized gauge transformation, accompanied by a canonical-variable transformation. This process corresponds exactly to the Hermitization procedure of the pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian. We obtain the classical Hannay angle for the periodically time-dependent SU(1, 1) pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian. The non-adiabatic Hannay angle and the Berry phase satisfy precisely the quantum-classical correspondence, γn(T)=−(n+12)∆Θ .
Abstract We study in this paper both the stationary and time-dependent pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians consisting respectively of SU(1, 1), SU(2) generators. The pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians can be generated from kernel Hermitian-Hamiltonians by a generalized gauge transformation with a non-unitary but Hermitian operator. The metric operator of the biorthogonal sets of eigenstates is simply the square of the transformation operator, which is formulated explicitly. The exact solutions of pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians are obtained in terms of the eigenststates of the Hermitian counterparts. We observe a critical point G c of coupling constant, where all eigenstates of the stationary Hamiltonians are degenerate with a vanishing eigenvalue. This critical point is modified as G c (ω) in the time-dependent case including the frequency of external field. Returning to the original gauge we obtain analytically the wave functions and associated non-adiabatic Berry phase, which diverges at the critical point for the SU(2)Hamiltonian. Beyond the critical point Berry phase becomes a complex domain.