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Physical Review A

Geometric phases in non-Hermitian quantum mechanics

Xiaodong Cui, Yujun Zheng

Published Dec 20, 2012• 44 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We generally derive complex geometric phases in non-Hermitian quantum mechanics. The formalism of complex geometric phases for non-Hermitian quantum systems is general and can be applied in the cases of cyclic and noncyclic states in non-Hermitian quantum mechanics. As an example, we show the interpretation of complex geometric phases by a generalized density matrix defined on a two-level non-Hermitian quantum system and the two-level Bethe-Lamb model. Also, in the Hermitian case, our theoretical framework of a complex geometric phase reduces to the counterpart of the Pancharatnam phase.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.86.064104

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We generally derive complex geometric phases in non-Hermitian quantum mechanics. The formalism of complex geometric phases for non-Hermitian quantum systems is general and can be applied in the cases of cyclic and noncyclic states in non-Hermitian quantum mechanics. As an example, we show the interpretation of complex geometric phases by a generalized density matrix defined on a two-level non-Hermitian quantum system and the two-level Bethe-Lamb model. Also, in the Hermitian case, our theoretical framework of a complex geometric phase reduces to the counterpart of the Pancharatnam phase.
We discuss the basic theoretical framework for non-Hermitian quantum systems with particular emphasis on the diagonalizability of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians and their general linear GL(1,C)\text{GL}(1,\mathbb{C})GL(1,C) gauge freedom, which are relevant to the adiabatic evolution of non-Hermitian quantum systems. We find that the adiabatic evolution is possible only when the eigenenergies are real. The accompanying geometric phase is found to be generally complex and associated with not only the phase of a wave function but also its amplitude. The condition for the real geometric phase is laid out. Our results are illustrated with two examples of non-Hermitian PT\mathcal{PT}PT-symmetric systems, the two-dimensional non-Hermitian Dirac fermion model and bosonic Bogoliubov quasiparticles.
The complex geometric phases for systems governed by non-Hermitian 3×3 matrix Hamiltonians depending on time through a set of real parameters are constructed. The case that the non-Hermitian three-level system undergoes a cyclic evolution is considered for the class of the Hamiltonians with time-independent off-diagonal matrix elements. The conditions are established whereby the complex geometric phases take their extreme (resonance) values independently of the circuit in the parameter space. The results can be in particular used to study the problem of three-neutrino oscillations with regard to the neutrino refraction and absorption in matter.
With the growing interest in non-Hermitian quantum systems, the concepts of geometric phase such as Berry phase, adiabatic non-Abelian geometric phase, and nonadiabatic Abelian geometric phase have been gradually extended from Hermitian to non-Hermitian quantum systems. However, extending the most general form, the nonadiabatic non-Abelian geometric phase, to non-Hermitian systems has remained an open problem. In this paper, we address this issue by proposing a formalism of the nonadiabatic non-Abelian geometric phase in non-Hermitian quantum systems. Our formalism is consistent with the previous extensions in non-Hermitian quantum systems, and can also naturally revert to the concepts of geometric phase in Hermitian quantum systems. It provides a general formulation of geometric phase for both Hermitian and non-Hermitian quantum systems.
For a T-periodic non-Hermitian Hamiltonian H(t), we construct a class of adiabatic cyclic states of period T which are not eigenstates of the initial Hamiltonian H(0). We show that the corresponding adiabatic geometric phase angles are real and discuss their relationship with the conventional complex adiabatic geometric phase angles. We present a detailed calculation of the new adiabatic cyclic states and their geometric phases for a non-Hermitian analog of the spin 1/2 particle in a precessing magnetic field. Since the publication of Berry’s paper [1] on the adiabatic geometrical phase, the subject has undergone a rapid development. Berry’s adiabatic geometric phase for periodic Hermitian Hamiltonians with a discrete nondegenerate spectrum has been generalized to arbitrary changes of a quantum state. In particular, the conditions on the adiabaticity [2] and cyclicity [3, 4, 5] of the evolution, Hermiticity of the Hamiltonian [6], and degeneracy [7] and discreteness [8] of its spectrum have been lifted. Moreover, the classical [9] and relativistic [10] analogues of the geometric phase have been considered. The purpose of this note is to offer an alternative generalization of Berry’s treatment of the adiabatic geometric phase for a non-Hermitian parametric Hamiltonian H[R] with a nondegenerate discrete spectrum. The parameters R = (R1, · · ·, Rn) are assumed to be real ∗E-mail address:
The adiabatic theorem is one of the most interesting and significant theorems in quantum mechanics. However, the adiabatic theorem can fail for general non-Hermitian quantum systems. In this paper, by utilizing the complex geometric phase, the functional calculus for biorthogonal systems and the Grönwall inequality, we prove rigorously that the adiabatic theorem is still valid for diagonalizable non-Hermitian systems with real eigenvalues. The proof also justifies the definition of a complex Berry phase for non-Hermitian systems, in both Abelian and non-Abelian cases.
We present a formal geometric framework for the study of adiabatic quantum mechanics for arbitrary finite-dimensional non-degenerate Hamiltonians. This framework generalizes earlier holonomy interpretations of the geometric phase to non-cyclic states appearing for non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. We start with an investigation of the space of non-degenerate operators on a finite-dimensional state space. We then show how the energy bands of a Hamiltonian family form a covering space. Likewise, we show that the eigenrays form a bundle, a generalization of a principal bundle, which admits a natural connection yielding the (generalized) geometric phase. This bundle provides in addition a natural generalization of the quantum geometric tensor and derived tensors, and we show how it can incorporate the non-geometric dynamical phase as well. We finish by demonstrating how the bundle can be recast as a principal bundle, so that both the geometric phases and the permutations of eigenstates can be expressed simultaneously by means of standard holonomy theory.