Abstract We study the critical behaviors of the ground and first-excited states in the one-dimensional nonreciprocal Aubry-André-Harper (AAH) model using both the self-normal and biorthogonal fidelity susceptibilities. We demonstrate that fidelity susceptibility serves as a probe for the phase transition in the nonreciprocal AAH model. For ground states, characterized by real eigenenergies across the entire regime, both fidelity susceptibilities near the critical points scale as N 2 , akin to the Hermitian AAH model. However, for the first-excited states, the fidelity susceptibilities exhibit distinct scaling laws, contingent upon whether the lattice consists of even or odd sites. For even lattices, both the self-normal and biorthogonal fidelity susceptibilities near the critical points continue to scale as N 2 . In contrast, for odd lattices, the biorthogonal fidelity susceptibilities diverge, while the self-normal fidelity susceptibilities exhibit linear behavior, indicating a novel scaling law.
In this study, we investigate the localization transition and quantum criticality {in the ground state of the} disordered Aubry-André-Harper (AAH) model, where a quasiperiodic potential is hybridized with a disordered potential. In the clean limit, the AAH model undergoes a localization transition from an extended phase to a localized phase via an intermediate critical phase as the strength of the quasiperiodic potential is varied. While the staggered potential merely shifts the critical point to a lower value, Fibonacci and Thue-Morse potentials induce immediate localization. This contrast reveals the sensitivity of localization behavior to the structural complexity of the potential, with the onset of localization correlating with the sequence's complexity. More specifically, the system follows a hierarchy defined by the complexity measures of the applied potentials. In addition, the typical fidelity susceptibility exhibits a power-law scaling behavior at the localization transition, enabling reliable extraction of the critical exponent. We focus on the AAH model with the Fibonacci potential due to its minimal finite-size effects compared to other cases. For the disordered AAH model with the Fibonacci potential, we determine critical exponents that differ from those of the AAH model without disorder and the Anderson model. Moreover, despite differences in localization behavior, we find that the disordered AAH models with the staggered potential and the Fibonacci potential share the same correlation-length critical exponent. These findings provide a unified framework for understanding localization transitions in quasiperiodic systems and are amenable to experimental validation using emerging techniques.
We investigate quantum phase transitions in one-dimensional quantum disordered lattice models, the Anderson model and the Aubry-Andr\'e model, from the fidelity susceptibility approach. First, we find that the fidelity susceptibility and the generalized adiabatic susceptibility are maximum at the quantum critical points of the disordered models, through which one can locate the quantum critical point in disordered lattice models. Second, finite-size scaling analysis of the fidelity susceptibility and of the generalized adiabatic susceptibility show that the correlation length critical exponent and the dynamical critical exponent at the quantum critical point of the one-dimensional Anderson model are respectively 2/3 and 2 and of the Aubry-Andr\'e model are respectively 1 and 2.375. Thus the quantum phase transitions in the Anderson model and in the Aubry-Andr\'e model are of different universality classes. Because the fidelity susceptibility and the generalized adiabatic susceptibility are directly connected to the dynamical structure factor which are experimentally accessible in the linear response regime, the fidelity susceptibility in quantum disordered systems may be observed experimentally in the near future.
The critical phase of a non-Hermitian quasicrystal can support stronger transport than its surrounding delocalized phase. We demonstrate this anomalous behavior in the one-dimensional nonreciprocal Aubry-André-Harper model through a combined study of dynamical quantum phase transitions (DQPTs) and wavepacket diffusion. Using a parity-sorted energy-spectrum classification that directly encodes the generalized
PT symmetry, we find that DQPTs in this system are energy-resolved, in contrast to the energy-independent DQPTs of Hermitian quasicrystals. The energy-resolved features are most pronounced when the initial and final Hamiltonians belong to different phases (localized or extended), and they are tied to the even-odd index structure of the spectrum, which we exploit to organize the quench-dynamical landscape. For wavepacket dynamics after a single-site quench, the diffusion exponent
β, extracted from the long-time power-law scaling of the root-mean-square displacement
σ(τ), partitions the phase diagram into four distinct regimes. In the Hermitian limit the extended phase is ballistic (
β=1), the critical phase is normally diffusive (
β=0.5), and the localized phase yields
β→0. Nonreciprocity reverses this hierarchy: the extended phase becomes normally diffusive, while the critical phase turns ballistic. We trace the anomalous
β=1 at criticality to the self-similar multifractal structure of the critical eigenstates, whose nodal positions are organized by the golden ratio. A finite-size scaling ansatz built on the wave-front propagation yields
σ(τ)∝τ. The parity-resolved DQPTs and the
β-phase diagram establish two complementary dynamical diagnostics of nonreciprocal quasicrystals, in which nonreciprocity promotes transport at the critical point and suppresses it in the delocalized phase.
We investigate the quantum criticality and universality in Aubry-Andr\'e-Harper (AAH) model with
p-wave superconducting pairing $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$ in terms of the generalized fidelity susceptibility (GFS). We show that the higher order GFS is more efficient in spotlighting the critical points than lower order ones, and thus the enhanced sensitivity is propitious for extracting the associated universal information from the finite-size scaling in quasiperiodic systems. The GFS obeys power-law scaling for localization transitions and thus scaling properties of the GFS provide compelling values of critical exponents. Specifically, we demonstrate that the fixed modulation phase $\ensuremath{\phi}=\ensuremath{\pi}$ alleviates the odd-even effect of scaling functions across the Aubry-Andr\'e transition with $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}=0$, while the scaling functions for odd and even numbers of system sizes with a finite $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}$ cannot coincide irrespective of the value of $\ensuremath{\phi}$. A thorough numerical analysis with odd number of system sizes reveals the correlation-length exponent $\ensuremath{\nu}\ensuremath{\simeq}$ 1.000 and the dynamical exponent $z\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\simeq}$ 1.388 for transitions from the critical phase to the localized phase, suggesting the unusual universality class of localization transitions in the AAH model with a finite
p-wave superconducting pairing lies in a different universality class from the Aubry-Andr\'e transition. The results may be testified in near term state-of-the-art experimental settings.
Quantum fidelity can serve as an effective diagnostic tool for detecting topological phase transitions. We investigate quantum critical behavior and topological phase transitions in a one-dimensional non-Hermitian Su–Schrieffer–Heeger lattice with periodic driving. The interplay between periodic driving and non-Hermiticity opens gaps at both zero and π quasienergies and gives rise to stable topological zero and π modes under open boundary conditions. To characterize the critical properties of the transition, we construct the fidelity susceptibility based on Floquet eigenstates and systematically compare two definitions: the self-normal fidelity and biorthogonal fidelity. In contrast to the self-normal fidelity susceptibility, the biorthogonal fidelity susceptibility exhibits a clear power-law scaling with system size and converges more reliably to the analytically expected critical points in the thermodynamic limit. Our results demonstrate that the biorthogonal fidelity susceptibility provides a robust and accurate approach to identifying Floquet non-Hermitian topological phase transitions and their quantum critical properties.
Non-Hermitian extensions of the Aubry-André-Harper (AAH) model reveal a rich variety of phase transitions arising from the interplay of quasiperiodicity and nonhermiticity. Despite their theoretical significance, experimental explorations remain challenging due to intricacies in realizing controlled nonhermiticity. Here, we present the first experimental realization of the unitary almost-Mathieu operator that simulates the AAH model by employing single-photon quantum walks. We systematically observe a phase transition between localized and delocalized regimes in the Hermitian limit. Subsequently, by introducing a nonreciprocal hopping, we experimentally probe the parity-time symmetry-breaking transition that is characterized by the emergence of complex quasienergies. Moreover, we identify a novel spectral transition exclusive to discrete-time settings, beyond which the real parts of all quasienergies vanish. These results clarify the interplay between localization, symmetry breaking, and topology in non-Hermitian quasicrystals, thereby paving the way for future exploration of synthetic quantum matter.