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arXiv:2510.04148 · Chinese Physics Letters

Right-Eigenstate-Based Approach to Non-Hermitian Superfluidity with Two-Body Loss

X. L. Liu, Ming Lu, Haiwen Liu

Published Sep 25, 2025• 3 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract We theoretically explore a non-Hermitian superfluid model with complex-valued interaction, inspired by two-body loss stemming from inelastic scattering observed in ultracold atomic experiments. Utilizing both the right-eigenstate-based mean-field theory and its biorthogonal counterpart, we study the properties of the system. Notably, the right-eigenstate-based framework produces smooth and continuous solutions, in stark contrast to the absence of nontrivial solutions and the abrupt discontinuities observed in the biorthogonal-eigenstate-based framework under moderate dissipation. In addition, the lower condensation energy obtained in the former framework suggests its superior suitability for describing this system. Furthermore, we explore the impact of backscattering, a crucial factor in realistic systems. Our analysis reveals that, facilitated by two-body loss, even moderate backscattering destabilizes the superfluid state. Sufficiently strong backscattering completely destroys it, highlighting a key mechanism for the fragility of this non-Hermitian quantum phase.

DOI
10.1088/0256-307x/42/11/110706

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Abstract We theoretically explore a non-Hermitian superfluid model with complex-valued interaction, inspired by two-body loss stemming from inelastic scattering observed in ultracold atomic experiments. Utilizing both the right-eigenstate-based mean-field theory and its biorthogonal counterpart, we study the properties of the system. Notably, the right-eigenstate-based framework produces smooth and continuous solutions, in stark contrast to the absence of nontrivial solutions and the abrupt discontinuities observed in the biorthogonal-eigenstate-based framework under moderate dissipation. In addition, the lower condensation energy obtained in the former framework suggests its superior suitability for describing this system. Furthermore, we explore the impact of backscattering, a crucial factor in realistic systems. Our analysis reveals that, facilitated by two-body loss, even moderate backscattering destabilizes the superfluid state. Sufficiently strong backscattering completely destroys it, highlighting a key mechanism for the fragility of this non-Hermitian quantum phase.
Motivated by recent experimental advances in ultracold atoms, we analyze a non-Hermitian (NH) BCS Hamiltonian with a complex-valued interaction arising from inelastic scattering between fermions. We develop a mean-field theory to obtain a NH gap equation for order parameters, which are different from the standard BCS ones due to the inequivalence of left and right eigenstates in the NH physics. We find unconventional phase transitions unique to NH systems: superfluidity shows reentrant behavior with increasing dissipation, as a consequence of nondiagonalizable exceptional points, lines, and surfaces in the quasiparticle Hamiltonian for weak attractive interactions. For strong attractive interactions, the superfluid gap never collapses but is enhanced by dissipation due to an interplay between the BCS-BEC crossover and the quantum Zeno effect. Our results lay the groundwork for studies of fermionic superfluidity subject to inelastic collisions.
We investigate the non-Hermitian (NH) attractive Fermi-Hubbard model with asymmetric hopping and complex-valued interactions, which can be realized by collective one-body loss and two-body loss. By means of the NH BCS theory, we find that the weak asymmetry of the hopping does not affect the BCS superfluidity since it only affects the imaginary part of the eigenvalues of the BdG Hamiltonian. Systematic analysis in the ddd-dimensional hypercubic lattices clarifies that the singularity in the density of states affects the phase boundary between the normal and dissipation-induced superfluid states. Our results can be tested in ultracold atoms by using the photoassociation techniques and a nonlocal Rabi coupling with local losses and postselecting null measurement outcomes with the use of the quantum-gas microscope.
The two-body loss associated with inelastic interactions between fermions plays a significant role in realistic many-body systems. Here we study a two-component non-Hermitian Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superfluidity with spin imbalance and two-body loss characterized by a complex-valued sss-wave interaction in a square lattice. At the mean-field level, we map out the zero-temperature phase diagram and observe a dissipation-induced transition from superfluid to normal phase as well as a distinctive revival of the superfluid state in the weakly interacting regime applicable to both spin-balanced and spin-imbalanced systems. In the spin-imbalanced case, we find that the effective density of states involving weight functions reduces the regions in k\mathbf{k}k space contributing to pairing, hence leading to a pronounced expansion of the normal phase on the phase diagram. Additionally, we analyze the order parameter, condensate energy, quasiparticle spectra, momentum distribution, and compressibility to characterize the presenting phases and phase transitions.
We theoretically investigate non-Hermitian p -wave Fermi superfluidity in one-dimensional spin-polarized Fermi gases which is relevant to recent ultracold atomic experiments. Considering an imaginary atom-dimer coupling responsible for the three-body recombination process in the Lindblad formalism, we discuss the stability of the superfluid state against the atomic loss effect. Within the two-channel non-Hermitian BCS-Eagles-Leggett theory, the atomic loss is characterized by the product of the imaginary atom-dimer coupling and the p -wave effective range. Our results indicate that for a given imaginary atom-dimer coupling, a smaller magnitude of the effective ranges of p -wave interaction is crucial for reaching the non-Hermitian p -wave Fermi superfluid state. Moreover, our theoretical framework for many-body systems with the three-body loss, which is inevitable in ultracold atoms, would promote further progress in non-Hermitian cold-atomic physics. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Having both elastic and inelastic two-body processes that are characterized by a complex sss-wave scattering length between $\ensuremath{\uparrow}$ and $\ensuremath{\downarrow}$ fermions in mind, here we apply the non-Hermitian extension of the mean-field theory to the BCS-BEC evolution at zero temperature. We construct the phase diagram of the system, where we find a reentrant superfluid (SF) transition that is intervened by a normal and/or a metastable phase as a function of increasing inelasticity. This transition occurs in a large parameter regime away from the unitarity, i.e., on both the BCS and BEC sides of the resonance, and it is mostly governed by the exceptional points. In addition, except for the strongly inelastic regime, we also show that the SF phase can be well described by the condensation of weakly interacting bosonic pairs in the two-body bound state with a complex binding energy.
The experimental advances in realizing artificial spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and non-Hermitian potentials in ultracold atomic system open a new avenue for exploring their significant roles in quantum many-body physics. Here, we investigate a non-Hermitian, two-component Fermi system in a cubic lattice with Rashba SOC and complex-valued interaction arising from two-body loss. We adopt the non-Hermitian mean field theory and map out the phase diagram at zero temperature. The interplay of dissipation and on-site interaction drives a dissipation-induced phase transition from superfluid (SF) to normal phase (N). Notably, for weak interaction strengths, this leads to a reentrance of the superfluid state. The presence of SOC significantly expands the parameter regime for both the normal phase and the metastable superfluid phase(MSF). Whereas, the Zeeman field can drive the system from a conventional superfluid into a topological superfluid phase(TSF), characterized by a nontrivial topological invariant. These results enrich our knowledge of pairing superfluidity in Fermi systems.