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arXiv:2602.00486 · Physical Review A

Higher-order Liouvillian exceptional points in the dissipative dynamics of quadratic fermions

Mingtao Xu, Wei Yi

Published Jun 5, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose a general class of open fermionic models where quadratic Liouvillians governing the dissipative dynamics feature analytically characterized higher-order exceptional points (EPs). Invoking the formalism of third quantization, we show that, among the multiple EPs of Liouvillian, an EP with its order approaching the system size arises as the dominant modes of the system at long times, leading to a gapless Liouvillian spectrum. By introducing perturbations, in the form of many-body quantum-jump processes, these higher-order EPs break down, leading to finite Liouvillian gaps with fractional power-law scalings. While the power-law scaling is a signature of the higher-order EP, its explicit form is sensitively dependent on the many-body perturbation. Finally, we discuss the long-time dynamics which can serve as detectable signals for the higher-order Liouvillian EPs.

DOI
10.1103/5sk1-qjm1

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We propose a general class of open fermionic models where quadratic Liouvillians governing the dissipative dynamics feature analytically characterized higher-order exceptional points (EPs). Invoking the formalism of third quantization, we show that, among the multiple EPs of Liouvillian, an EP with its order approaching the system size arises as the dominant modes of the system at long times, leading to a gapless Liouvillian spectrum. By introducing perturbations, in the form of many-body quantum-jump processes, these higher-order EPs break down, leading to finite Liouvillian gaps with fractional power-law scalings. While the power-law scaling is a signature of the higher-order EP, its explicit form is sensitively dependent on the many-body perturbation. Finally, we discuss the long-time dynamics which can serve as detectable signals for the higher-order Liouvillian EPs.
Usually, when investigating exceptional points (EPs) of an open Markovian bosonic system, one deals with spectral degeneracies of a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian (NHH), which can correctly describe the system dynamics only in the semiclassical regime. A recently proposed quantum Liouvillian framework [Minganti et al., Phys. Rev. A 100, 062131 (2019)] enables the complete determination of the dynamical properties of such systems and their EPs (referred to as Liouvillian EPs, or LEPs) in the quantum regime by taking into account the effects of quantum jumps, which are ignored in the NHH formalism. Moreover, the symmetry and eigenfrequency spectrum of the NHH become a part of much larger Liouvillian eigenspace. As such, the EPs of an NHH form a subspace of the LEPs. Here we show that once an NHH of a dissipative linear bosonic system exhibits an EP of a certain finite order nnn, it immediately implies that the corresponding LEP can become of any higher order $m\ensuremath{\ge}n$ defined in the infinite Hilbert space. These higher-order LEPs can be identified by the coherence and spectral functions at the steady state. The coherence functions can offer a convenient tool to probe extreme system sensitivity to external perturbations in the vicinity of higher-order LEPs. As an example, we study a linear bosonic system of a bimodal cavity with incoherent mode coupling to reveal its higher-order LEPs; particularly, of second and third order via first- and second-order coherence functions, respectively. Accordingly, these LEPs can be additionally revealed by squared and cubic Lorentzian spectral lineshapes in the power and intensity-fluctuation spectra. Moreover, we demonstrate that these EPs can also be associated with spontaneous parity-time (PT\mathcal{PT}PT) and anti-PT\mathcal{PT}PT-symmetry breaking in the system studied. These symmetries can be switched in the output fields (the so-called supermodes) of an additional linear coupler with a properly chosen coupling strength. Thus, we show that the initial loss-loss dynamics for the supermodes can be equivalent to the balanced gain-loss evolution.
Open quantum systems can be approximately described by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians (NHHs) and Liouvillian superoperators. The two approaches differ by quantum jump terms corresponding to a measurement of the system by its environment. We analyze the emergence of exceptional points (EPs) in NHHs and Liouvillian superoperators. In particular, we show how EPs in NHHs relate to a novel type of EPs -- multi-block EPs -- in the no-jump Liouvillian, i.e. the Liouvillian superoperator in absence of quantum jump terms. We further analyze how quantum jump terms modify the multi-block structure. To illustrate our general findings, we present two prime examples: qubits and qutrits coupled to additional ground state levels that serve as sinks of the population. In those examples, we can navigate through the EP block structure by a variation of physical parameters. We analyze how the dynamics of the population of the states is affected by the order of the EPs. Additionally, we demonstrate that the quantum geometric tensor serves as a sensitive indicator of EPs of different kinds.
Viewing a quantum thermal machine as a non-Hermitian quantum system, we characterize in full generality its analytical time-dependent dynamics by deriving the spectrum of its non-Hermitian Liouvillian for an arbitrary initial state.We show that the thermal machine features a number of Liouvillian exceptional points (EPs) for experimentally realistic parameters, in particular, a third-order exceptional point that leaves signatures both in short-and long-time regimes.Remarkably, we demonstrate that this EP corresponds to a regime of critical decay for the quantum thermal machine towards its steady state, bearing a striking resemblance with a critically damped harmonic oscillator.These results open up exciting possibilities for the precise dynamical control of quantum thermal machines exploiting exceptional points from non-Hermitian physics and are amenable to state-of-the-art solid-state platforms such as semiconducting and superconducting devices.
Exceptional points (EPs), indicative of parity-time (PT) symmetry breaking, play a central role in non-Hermitian physics, yet most studies begin from deliberately engineered effective Hamiltonians whose parameters are tuned to exhibit exceptional behavior. In realistic open quantum systems, however, dynamics are governed by Lindblad superoperators whose spectral structure is high-dimensional, symmetry-constrained, and not obviously reducible to minimal non-Hermitian models. A general framework for discovering exceptional dynamics directly from microscopic dissipative models has been lacking. Here we introduce a symmetry-resolved approach for identifying and characterizing exceptional points directly from the full Liouvillian generator. Correlated dissipation induces graph symmetries that decompose Liouville space into low-dimensional invariant sectors, within which minimal non-Hermitian blocks govern the onset of EPs and PT-breaking behavior. We further introduce a numerical diagnostic - the exceptional-point strength E\mathcal{E}E - based on eigenvector conditioning, which quantifies proximity to defective dynamics without requiring analytic reduction. Applied to tight-binding models with correlated dephasing and relaxation, the method reproduces analytically predicted exceptional seams and reveals universal scaling of E\mathcal{E}E near EP manifolds. More broadly, the framework enables systematic discovery of hidden exceptional structure in complex or high-dimensional open systems and is naturally compatible with matrix-free and tensor-network implementations for scalable many-body applications.
Exceptional points (EPs) are degeneracies of classical and quantum open systems, which are studied in many areas of physics including optics, optoelectronics, plasmonics, and condensed matter physics. In the semiclassical regime, open systems can be described by phenomenological effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonians (NHHs) capturing the effects of gain and loss in terms of imaginary fields. The EPs that characterize the spectra of such Hamiltonians (HEPs) describe the time evolution of a system without quantum jumps. It is well known that a full quantum treatment describing more generic dynamics must crucially take into account such quantum jumps. In a recent paper [F. Minganti et al., Phys. Rev. A 100, 062131 (2019)], we generalized the notion of EPs to the spectra of Liouvillian superoperators governing open system dynamics described by Lindblad master equations. Intriguingly, we found that in situations where a classical-to-quantum correspondence exists, the two types of dynamics can yield different EPs. In a recent experimental work [M. Naghiloo et al., Nat. Phys. 15, 1232 (2019)], it was shown that one can engineer a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian in the quantum limit by postselecting on certain quantum jump trajectories. This raises an interesting question concerning the relation between Hamiltonian and Lindbladian EPs, and quantum trajectories. We discuss these connections by introducing a hybrid-Liouvillian superoperator, capable of describing the passage from an NHH (when one postselects only those trajectories without quantum jumps) to a true Liouvillian including quantum jumps (without postselection). Beyond its fundamental interest, our approach allows to intuitively relate the effects of postselection and finite-efficiency detectors.
Abstract The dynamics of open quantum systems described by the Lindblad master equation follows according to non-Hermitian operators. As a result, such systems can host non-Hermitian degeneracies called Liouvillian exceptional points (EPs). In this work, we show that Newton polygons and tropical geometric approach allow identification and characterization of Liouvillian EPs. We use two models—dissipative spin − 1 / 2 system and dissipative superconducting qubit system—to illustrate our method. We demonstrate that our approach captures the anisotropy and order of the Liouvillian EPs, while also revealing the subtle dependence on the form of the perturbation. Our analytical analysis is supplemented by direct numerical calculations of the scaling and exchange of eigenvalues around Liouvillian EPs. Our analytical approach could be useful in understanding and designing Liouvillian EPs of desired order.