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Europhysics Letters (EPL)

Time-dependent non-Hermitian Hamiltonians with real energies

ALVARO DE SOUZA DUTRA, Marcelo Hott, V. G. C. S. dos Santos

Published Jun 8, 2005• 38 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this work we intend to study a class of time-dependent quantum systems with non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, particularly those whose Hermitian counterparts are important for the comprehension of posed problems in quantum optics and quantum chemistry. They consist of an oscillator with time-dependent mass and frequency under the action of a time-dependent imaginary potential. The wave functions are used to obtain the expectation value of the Hamiltonian. Although it is neither Hermitian nor PT symmetric, the Hamiltonian under study exhibits real values of energy.

DOI
10.1209/epl/i2005-10073-7

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In this work we intend to study a class of time-dependent quantum systems with non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, particularly those whose Hermitian counterparts are important for the comprehension of posed problems in quantum optics and quantum chemistry. They consist of an oscillator with time-dependent mass and frequency under the action of a time-dependent imaginary potential. The wave functions are used to obtain the expectation value of the Hamiltonian. Although it is neither Hermitian nor PT symmetric, the Hamiltonian under study exhibits real values of energy.
In this work we intend to study a class of time-dependent quantum systems with non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, particularly those whose Hermitian counterpart are important for the comprehension of posed problems in quantum optics and quantum chemistry, which consists of an oscillator with time-dependent mass and frequency under the action of a time-dependent imaginary potential. The propagator for a general time-dependence of the parameters and the wave-functions are obtained explicitly for constant frequency and mass and a linear time-dependence in the potential. The wave-functions are used to obtain the expectation value of the Hamiltonian. Although it is neither Hermitian nor PT symmetric, the case under study exhibits real values of energy.
In this work we intend to study a class of time-dependent quantum systems with non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, particularly those whose Hermitian counterpart are important for the comprehension of posed problems in quantum optics and quantum chemistry, which consists of an oscillator with time-dependent mass and frequency under the action of a time-dependent imaginary potential. We obtain the propagator for a general timedependence of the parameters and the wave-functions are obtained explicitly for constant frequency and mass and a linear time-dependence in the potential. The wave-functions are used to obtain the expectation value of the Hamiltonian. Although not PT symmetric the case of study exhibits real values of energy.
Abstract With the aim to solve the time-dependent Schrödinger equation associated to a time-dependent non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, we introduce a unitary transformation that maps the Hamiltonian to a time-independent   -symmetric one. Consequently, the solution of time-dependent Schrödinger equation becomes easily deduced and the evolution preserves the  ( t ) PT −inner product, where  ( t ) is a obtained from the charge conjugation operator  through a time dependent unitary transformation. Moreover, the expectation value of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian in the  ( t ) PT normed states is guaranteed to be real. As an illustration, we present a specific quantum system given by a quantum oscillator with time-dependent mass subjected to a driving linear complex time-dependent potential.
We discuss the quantum theory of an harmonic oscillator with time-dependent mass and frequency submitted to action of a complex time-dependent linear potential with [Formula: see text] symmetry. Combining the Lewis and Riesenfeld approach to time-dependent non-Hermitian Hamiltonians having [Formula: see text] symmetry and linear invariants, we solve the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for this problem and use the corresponding quantum states to construct a Gaussian wave packet solution. We show that the shape of this wave packet does not depend on the driving force. Afterwards, using this wave packet state, we calculate the expectation values of the position and momentum, their fluctuations and the associated uncertainty product. We find that these expectation values are complex numbers and as a consequence the position and momentum operators are not physical observables and the uncertainty product is physically unacceptable.
With a view to getting further insight into the solutions of one-dimensional analogous Schr?dinger equation for a non-hermitian (complex) Hamiltonian system, we investigate the quasi-exact PT- symmetric solutions for an octic potential and its variant using extended complex phase space approach characterized by x=x1+ip2, p=p1+ix2, where (x1, p1) and (x2, p2) are real and considered as canonical pairs. Besides the complexity of the phase space, complexity of potential parameters is also considered. The analyticity property of the eigenfunction alone is found sufficient to throw light on the nature of eigenvalue and eigenfunction of a system. The imaginary part of energy eigenvalue of a non-hermitian Hamiltonian exist for complex potential parameters and reduces to zero for real parameters. However, in the present work, it is found that imaginary component of the energy eigenvalue vanishes even when potential parameters are complex, provided that PT-symmetric condition is satisfied. Thus PT- symmetric version of a non-hermitian Hamiltonian possesses the real eigenvalue.
We propose a scheme to deal with certain time-dependent non-Hermitian Hamiltonian operators H(t)H(t)H(t) that generate a real phase in their time-evolution. This involves the use of invariant operators IPH(t)I_{PH}(t)IPH​(t) that are pseudo-Hermitian with respect to the time-dependent metric operator and which implies that the dynamics is governed by unitary time evolution. Furthermore, H(t)H(t)H(t) is not generally quasi-Hermitian and does not define an observable of the system but IPH(t)I_{PH}(t)IPH​(t) obeys a quasi-hermiticity transformation as in the completely time-independent Hamiltonian systems case. The harmonic oscillator with a time-dependent frequency under the action of a complex time-dependent linear potential is considered as an illustrative example.