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arXiv:2602.05040

Minimal Hamiltonian deformations as bulk probes of effective non-Hermiticity in Dirac materials

Sergio Pino-Alarcón, Juan Pablo Esparza, Vladimir Juričić

cond-mat.mes-hallquant-phSubmitted Feb 4, 2026• Announced Feb 6, 2026• Revised May 17, 2026 (v2)
v1 · Feb 4, 2026v2 · May 17, 2026
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Non-Hermitian (NH) Dirac semimetals describe open gain--loss systems. Yet at charge neutrality, models featuring real spectrum often look Hermitian-like, with NH effects absorbed into renormalized band parameters. Here, we show that a response-based diagnostic of effective non-Hermiticity can be formulated using minimal pseudo-Lorentz-symmetry-breaking deformations, which separate observables that remain captured by parameter redefinitions from those that exhibit irreducible NH structure. For a two-dimensional NH Dirac semimetal in the weak-NH, real-spectrum regime, we analyze Dirac-cone tilt and velocity anisotropy and compute representative probes of spectral structure, quantum geometry, optical response, and viscoelasticity at zero temperature. We find that tilt yields an NH-dependent slope of the density of states that cannot be collapsed to a single effective velocity, while velocity anisotropy can be captured by effective-velocity reparametrization. Furthermore, the quantum metric and collisionless optical conductivities provide NH-insensitive benchmarks (with the nonlinear conductivity symmetry selected), whereas the shear viscosity offers a discriminator through its tensor structure. Our results identify minimal deformations and bulk response channels that enable access to effective non-Hermiticity even when the spectrum remains real.

Journal reference
Phys. Rev. B 113, 195118 (2026)
DOI
10.1103/1gsd-41f1
Comments
14 pages, 7 figures, published version

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Non-Hermitian (NH) Dirac semimetals describe open gain--loss systems. Yet at charge neutrality, models featuring real spectrum often look Hermitian-like, with NH effects absorbed into renormalized band parameters. Here, we show that a response-based diagnostic of effective non-Hermiticity can be formulated using minimal pseudo-Lorentz-symmetry-breaking deformations, which separate observables that remain captured by parameter redefinitions from those that exhibit irreducible NH structure. For a two-dimensional NH Dirac semimetal in the weak-NH, real-spectrum regime, we analyze Dirac-cone tilt and velocity anisotropy and compute representative probes of spectral structure, quantum geometry, optical response, and viscoelasticity at zero temperature. We find that tilt yields an NH-dependent slope of the density of states that cannot be collapsed to a single effective velocity, while velocity anisotropy can be captured by effective-velocity reparametrization. Furthermore, the quantum metric and collisionless optical conductivities provide NH-insensitive benchmarks (with the nonlinear conductivity symmetry selected), whereas the shear viscosity offers a discriminator through its tensor structure. Our results identify minimal deformations and bulk response channels that enable access to effective non-Hermiticity even when the spectrum remains real.
Non-Hermitian band descriptions capture how loss, gain, and environmental coupling reshape quantum matter, yet most experimental probes remain wave based or dynamical. Here we develop an equilibrium charge-response route to spectral compression in Dirac materials. In the real-spectrum regime, invariance of the particle-number operator under the similarity transformation makes the quantum capacitance exactly that of the Hermitian partner, so the whole non-Hermitian content is carried by the Petermann factor. In a minimal nonreciprocal graphene model, hopping imbalance suppresses the Dirac velocity, enhancing the low-energy density of states and the capacitance as an exceptional point is approached. At charge neutrality the capacitance stays linear in temperature, with its slope enhanced relative to the Hermitian value. A perpendicular magnetic field recasts the same compression as a collapse of the Landau-level ladder, drawing more levels into the thermal window. In two dimensions, the capacitance enhancement relative to the Hermitian partner coincides exactly with the Petermann factor, even though the two have entirely different origins. This relation provides a controlled starting point for extending equilibrium thermodynamic probes to non-Hermitian electronic systems with interactions, disorder, and reservoir coupling.
We investigate the band structure and topological phases of one- and two-dimensional bipartite atomic lattices mediated by long-range dissipative radiative coupling. By deriving an effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonian for the single-excitation sector, we demonstrate that the low-energy dynamics of the system are governed by a Dirac equation with a complex Fermi velocity. We analyze the associated topological invariants for both the SSH and honeycomb models, utilizing synthetic gauge fields to break time-reversal symmetry in the latter. Finally, we explicitly verify the non-Hermitian bulk-edge correspondence by deriving analytical solutions for edge states localized at domain boundaries.
We establish scaling relations governing the equilibrium thermodynamics of real-spectrum non-Hermitian Dirac fermions in a magnetic field. Assuming thermalization with respect to the quasi-Hermitian Hamiltonian, a similarity transformation maps the system at the same applied field onto a Hermitian Dirac model with reduced velocity, while the Landau-level spectrum also admits a representation in terms of a reduced effective magnetic field. This structure yields scaling relations for the chemical potential, entropy, heat capacities, and orbital magnetic response in different thermodynamic ensembles. At fixed projected filling factor (PFF), the self-consistent chemical potential follows the compressed ladder of Landau levels, and the canonical thermodynamic functions are rescaled Hermitian responses. At fixed chemical potential, Landau-level crossings generate oscillatory caloric and magnetic responses governed by the same spectral compression. Quasistatic non-Hermitian deformation at fixed PFF further yields adiabatic temperature scaling. More broadly, these results establish a thermodynamic framework for real-spectrum non-Hermitian quantum matter and provide a starting point for incorporating the effects of interactions and disorder within the same formalism.
Non-Hermitian systems have recently emerged as a convenient platform to realize black-hole physics. Here, we propose a microscopic open quantum system, namely a fermionic tight-binding chain coupled to Markovian reservoirs, which emulates black-hole properties. The resulting quadratic Lindbladian admits an effective non-Hermitian limit that produces a gain and loss lattice model with a non-reciprocal next-nearest-neighbor hopping. The rapidity spectrum of the full Lindbladian forms tilted exceptional cones that define an effective Painlevé-Gullstrand geometry and separates into black-hole and white-hole sectors, while steady-state particle densities and currents retain clear signatures at the horizon positions. We then analyze the effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonian that arise from the microscopic quantum system. The biorthogonal flux identifies the outgoing exterior and interior channels. Finally, we introduce a fermionic Gaussian Nambu extension and formulate Hawking-pair witnesses through frequency-resolved scattering, nonlocal density-density correlations, and anomalous Hawking-partner amplitudes. The resulting correlations display analogue Hawking radiation signatures, while the frequency-resolved Hawking-partner correlations satisfy the fermionic covariance-positivity constraint. These results establish a connection between microscopic open-system dynamics, emergent non-Hermitian geometry, and fermionic many-body probes of analogue Hawking radiation.
Interacting and open quantum systems can be formulated in terms of an effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonian (NHH), however, there are important constraints that must be satisfied by the effective action and the associated Green's functions. One common approach to many-body non-Hermitian (NH) systems is to incorporate the anti-Hermitian part of the Hamiltonian directly in the Matsubara Green's function. Here, we show that such an approach is incompatible with the standard framework for systems with interactions. Furthermore, we furnish a consistent physical description for such systems by determining their distinction from conventional interacting physics, and find that they are described by pseudo-Hermitian quantum mechanics. Furthermore, we characterize the zero-temperature distribution functions within several frameworks for NH systems. As an application of our results, we consider the electromagnetic response of a NH quasiparticle Hamiltonian based on the (1+1)-dimensional NH Dirac model subject to various physical descriptions.
Local Dirac-node topology is usually described by a winding number or Berry phase, whereas curvature-flux formulations are commonly associated with global band topology. Here we show that the non-Hermitian Zeeman quantum geometric tensor (QGT) provides a curvature-flux representation of local π1π_1π1​ topology. Unlike the conventional Hermitian QGT, whose metric and Berry curvature are fixed respectively by its real symmetric and imaginary antisymmetric parts, the Zeeman QGT must be decomposed according to symmetry under index exchange. This decomposition yields normal and anomalous metric-curvature sectors. The normal sector has the same metric-curvature structure as the conventional Hermitian QGT. The anomalous sector, by contrast, contains two components absent in the conventional QGT: an imaginary symmetric metric-like tensor and a real antisymmetric curvature-like tensor. In a two-dimensional Dirac system, the anomalous Zeeman curvature forms a radial flux field Hodge-dual to the tangential winding field of the Dirac node, thereby converting the local winding invariant into a Gauss-type flux invariant. We further show that the four Zeeman-geometric sectors map one-to-one onto frequency- and symmetry-resolved gyrotropic conductivity channels, with reciprocal kinetic magnetoelectric response providing a complementary probe. These results establish non-Hermitian Zeeman quantum geometry as a measurable framework connecting local Dirac-node topology and transport.