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Physical Review A

Non-Hermitian quantum dynamics

Howard C. Baker, Robert Singleton

Published Jul 1, 1990• 341 citations
Publisher

Abstract

An algorithm previously obtained for complex-energy modal probabilities in non-Hermitian quantum dynamics is generalized to determine expectation values for arbitrary observables. When cast in conventional form, the formalism including the generalized algorithms appears as a natural generalization of conventional quantum theory, in that conventional quantum theory obtains in the continuous Hermitian limit.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.42.10

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An algorithm previously obtained for complex-energy modal probabilities in non-Hermitian quantum dynamics is generalized to determine expectation values for arbitrary observables. When cast in conventional form, the formalism including the generalized algorithms appears as a natural generalization of conventional quantum theory, in that conventional quantum theory obtains in the continuous Hermitian limit.
Starting from the unitary evolution of a closed quantum system, we rigorously demonstrate that the projection of the global wavefunction onto an arbitrary local subsystem is governed by an exact, time-dependent non-Hermitian Schrödinger equation. Crucially, the derivation does not rely on conventional approximations such as the Born approximation, the Markov approximation, or the wide-band limit. The central quantity is the \textit{instantaneous self-energy}, a time-dependent and generally non-Hermitian operator that encodes environmental backaction and, together with the subsystem Hamiltonian, forms the exact time-local generator of the projected dynamics. By benchmarking the conventional non-Hermitian approximation against this exact framework, we systematically expose its limitations. These results provide a rigorous microscopic foundation for the emergence of effective non-Hermitian dynamics in quantum systems.
According to some generalized correspondence principle the classical limit of a non-Hermitian quantum theory describing quantum degrees of freedom is expected to be the well known classical mechanics of classical degrees of freedom in the complex phase space, i.e., some phase space spanned by complex-valued space and momentum coordinates. As special relativity was developed by Einstein merely for real-valued space-time and four-momentum, we will try to understand how special relativity and covariance can be extended to complex-valued space-time and four-momentum. Our considerations will lead us not only to some unconventional derivation of Lorentz transformations for complex-valued velocities, but also to the non-Hermitian Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations, which are to lay the foundations of a non-Hermitian quantum theory.
According to some generalized correspondence principle the classical limit of a non-Hermitian Quantum theory describing quantum degrees of freedom is expected to be well known classical mechanics of classical degrees of freedom in the complex phase space, i.e., some phase space spanned by complex-valued space and momentum coordinates. As special relativity has been developed by Einstein merely for real-valued space-time and four-momentum we will try to understand how special relativity and covariance can be extended to complex-valued space-time and four-momentum. Our considerations will lead us not only to some unconventional derivation of Lorentz transformations for complex-valued velocities, yet also to the non-Hermitian Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations which are to lay the foundations of a non-Hermitian quantum theory.
The non-Hermitian Schrödinger equation is re-expressed generally in the form of Hamilton's canonical equation without any approximation. Its quantization called non-Hermitian quantum field theory is discussed. By virtue of the canonical equation, the theory of non-Hermitian quantum mechanics is totally reformulated, including the probability amplitudes of states, the expectations of operators, as well as the expressions of interaction terms. The conventional difficulties in non-Hermitian quantum mechanics are totally overcome by the reformulation. Specifically, the imaginary parts the non-Hermitian eigenenergy and adiabatic geometric phase are actually unphysical, although they are mathematically perfect.
The quantum evolution of the Wigner function for Gaussian wave packets generated by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian is investigated. In the semiclassical limit $\ensuremath{\hbar}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ this yields the non-Hermitian analog of the Ehrenfest theorem for the dynamics of observable expectation values. The lack of Hermiticity reveals the importance of the complex structure on the classical phase space: The resulting equations of motion are coupled to an equation of motion for the phase-space metric---a phenomenon having no analog in Hermitian theories.
In the first part of this series we have shown how the Schrodinger equation for a single particle and the corresponding non relativistic quantum observables can be obtained from a purely classical phonon model through the Newtonian equations of motion. In this work we focus instead on how the classical Hamiltonian formalism applied to the same phonon system allows to recover the feature of relativistic quantum mechanics for a single spinless particle. Using the classical nature of the phonon model, we naturally define continuous Poisson brackets between classical observables, which allows to recover the dynamics of such observables, i.e. the Ehrenfest relations associated to real-valued Klein-Gordon fields. The Poisson brackets also permits to obtain the generic form of constants of motions, thus generalizing the concept of inner products and momentum on Klein-Gordon fields. We then connect the formalism of real-valued classical functionals with that of hermitian operators and complex-valued wave functions. This is done through the introduction of a non-local complex-valued change of variables which allows to rewrite the real-valued Klein-Gordon equation in a form akin to the Schrodinger equation, and the classical observables as quantum expectation values. Then, we show how this change of variables allows to rewrite the classical Poisson brackets as commutators of hermitian operators. This points out the strict equivalence between the Heisenberg formalism and the formalism of classical Poisson bracket. Eventually, we illustrate how the Poisson brackets allows to recover the transformations of Poincare group in 1+1 dimension together with its algebra. The latter makes the link between the Lorentz invariant inner product of Mostafazadeh and the Casimir invariant associated to the mass of particle.