In non-Hermitian open boundary systems, non-reciprocal hopping inevitably induces the non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE). In this paper, we propose a purely geometric scheme to reconstruct this boundary accumulation pattern: by introducing a fixed step length k (where k < L), the system precisely decomposes into k independent sub-chains. Quantitative analysis shows that this geometric blockade strictly cuts off single-particle transport between sub-chains, and each sub-chain independently inherits the Hatano-Nelson type skin effect. Through boundary probability density and spatial distribution heatmaps, we demonstrate at the eigenstate ensemble level that the probability distribution is geometrically partitioned to the right ends of the k sub-chains. In the original coordinates, the probability peak is no longer dominated by a single lattice site but exhibits multi-site segmented accumulation. A single eigenstate only localizes in one of the sub-chains and does not distribute across the blockade. This isolation is strictly guaranteed by the block-diagonal structure of the Hamiltonian, independent of disorder or weak-coupling approximations. This mechanism provides a deterministic criterion for controlling geometric localization in non-Hermitian quantum networks.
In non-Hermitian open boundary systems, non-reciprocal hopping inevitably induces the non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE). In this paper, we propose a purely geometric scheme to reconstruct this boundary accumulation pattern: by introducing a fixed step length k (where k < L), the system precisely decomposes into k independent sub-chains. Quantitative analysis shows that this geometric blockade strictly cuts off single-particle transport between sub-chains, and each sub-chain independently inherits the Hatano-Nelson type skin effect. Through boundary probability density and spatial distribution heatmaps, we demonstrate at the eigenstate ensemble level that the probability distribution is geometrically partitioned to the right ends of the k sub-chains. In the original coordinates, the probability peak is no longer dominated by a single lattice site but exhibits multi-site segmented accumulation. A single eigenstate only localizes in one of the sub-chains and does not distribute across the blockade. This isolation is strictly guaranteed by the block-diagonal structure of the Hamiltonian, independent of disorder or weak-coupling approximations. This mechanism provides a deterministic criterion for controlling geometric localization in non-Hermitian quantum networks.
The non-Hermitian skin effect is nonreciprocity-induced localization phenomena in which a macroscopic number of eigenstates accumulate anomalously at the boundary, accompanied by the extreme sensitivity to boundary conditions. Here, we develop a geometric characterization of the non-Hermitian skin effect. We demonstrate that the localization length scale associated with the skin effect is encoded in the quantum metric defined solely from right eigenstates, but not in the biorthogonal quantum metric. Moreover, we show that the quantum metrics can exhibit the power-law divergences at gapless points that depend on the different boundary conditions. We also reveal that cusps of the generalized Brillouin zone in non-Bloch band theory are signaled by discontinuities in the quantum metrics. We illustrate these behavior using prototypical non-Hermitian models, such as the Hatano-Nelson model and the non-Hermitian, nonreciprocal Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model.
The non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE) -- the anomalous boundary accumulation of an extensive number of bulk modes -- has emerged as a hallmark of non-Hermitian physics, with broad implications for transport, sensing, and topological classification. A central open question is how magnetic or synthetic gauge fields influence this boundary phenomenon. Here, we develop a theoretical framework for magnetic control of the NHSE along line boundaries in two-dimensional single-band lattices. Using a non-Hermitian extension of the anisotropic Harper--Hofstadter model as a representative example, we show that magnetic fields suppress the geometric skin effect in reciprocal models, whereas skin localization can persist in nonreciprocal systems. The analysis disentangles the interplay of flux, nonreciprocity, and boundary geometry, revealing that magnetic fields mitigate or suppress the NHSE through distinct physical mechanisms -- such as bulk localization via Landau or Anderson physics, or the restoration of effective reciprocity. In particular, the geometry-dependent skin effect in reciprocal systems is found to be fragile against even weak magnetic fields.
Non-Hermitian systems with globally reciprocal couplings -- such as the Hatano-Nelson model with stochastic imaginary gauge fields -- avoid the conventional non-Hermitian skin effect, displaying erratic bulk localization while retaining ballistic transport. An open question is whether similar behavior arises when non-reciprocity originates at the Liouvillian level rather than from an effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonian obtained via post-selection. Here, a lattice model with globally reciprocal Liouvillian dynamics and locally asymmetric incoherent hopping is investigated, a disordered setting in which Liouvillian-specific effects have remained largely unexplored. While the steady state again shows disorder-dependent, erratic localization without boundary accumulation, {\color{black}excitations in the incoherent-hopping regime spread via {\em Sinai-type subdiffusion}, dramatically slower than ordinary diffusion in symmetric stochastic lattices.} {\color{black}This highlights that the genuinely distinct Liouvillian signature is the coexistence of global reciprocity with ultra-slow, disorder-induced subdiffusive transport, rather than the erratic localization itself.} {\color{black}These results reveal a fundamental distinction between globally reciprocal Hamiltonian and Liouvillian systems: in both cases the skin effect is suppressed, but only in Liouvillian dynamics erratic skin localization can coexist with subdiffusive transport
We investigate the critical non-Hermitian skin effect (CNHSE) and the coupling-driven morphing of scale-free localization (SFL) in two Hatano-Nelson chains coupled locally at two bulk sites separated by an inclusive distance d. At weak interchain coupling, competition between the opposite skin accumulations of the two chains generates a geometrically selected critical branch with a complex loop-like spectrum and scale-free skin states localized near the physical boundaries. Remarkably, this SFL branch persists as the coupling becomes strong, although its underlying mechanism and spatial profile change qualitatively. Strong local hybridization generates high-energy impurity states and effectively divides the low-energy Hilbert space into geometry-selected inner and outer segments, with the former supporting SFL states near the interchain-coupled sites and the latter retaining conventional skin states. The number and localization scale of the SFL states are controlled by the separation between the coupling sites. Consequently, increasing the interchain coupling continuously relocates the SFL states from the physical boundaries to the coupling-defined internal interfaces. Our results demonstrate that bilocal coupling can induce a CNHSE and further drive its scale-free states into a segmentation-induced localization regime.
The non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE), characterized by a macroscopic accumulation of eigenstates at the edge of a system with open boundaries, is often ascribed to a non-trivial point-gap topology of the Bloch Hamiltonian. We revisit this connection and separate the question of the NHSE as a spectral reconstruction effect in clean systems from the question of stable topological protection. For a Hatano-Nelson ladder, where point-gap winding and non-normality can be varied independently, we demonstrate that, in a clean translationally invariant multiband setting, the NHSE can occur without point-gap winding and, conversely, that point-gap winding can persist without the NHSE. These results establish that in the clean case the connection between point-gap winding and the NHSE only holds in the scalar one-band case but, in general, not in the multiband case. Even more importantly, the eigenspectrum of non-normal operators is generically highly sensitive to boundary conditions and perturbations, and therefore does not constitute a stable object encoding topological information. Instead, topological properties are reflected in the splitting of the singular-value spectrum for finite systems and, in the semi-infinite limit, correspond to boundary-localized kernel modes implied by the index of the corresponding Toeplitz operator.
In all known schemes for the non-Hermitian skin effect, the non-Hermitian ingredient that drives the skin localization, whether asymmetric hopping or gain and loss, is invariably introduced by hand as an independent model parameter along the skin direction. Here we show that when two spatial coordinates do not commute, the skin effect can break free of this paradigm: a gain-loss potential applied along one coordinate automatically generates non-reciprocity along the other through the coordinate noncommutativity, driving all eigenstates to pile up exponentially at a boundary. We term this phenomenon the noncommutative skin effect. The inverse skin length is proportional to the noncommutativity parameter and is given by an analytic formula, exact in the thermodynamic limit and verified by exact diagonalization of lattice models; the reflection symmetry of the imaginary potential furnishes an exact criterion for the presence or absence of the effect, valid rigorously for finite-size systems. For a sinusoidal imaginary potential, the skin direction of all eigenstates flips collectively at parameter points fixed purely by geometry. Because the flip point is independent of the potential strength, the reversal constitutes a zero-crossing measurement scheme intrinsically robust against systematic errors, from which the noncommutativity parameter can be extracted directly. The qualitative transition of the eigenstates from uniform to exponentially localized renders the effect a nonperturbative probe of spatial noncommutativity, and the Peierls-phase structure of its lattice model is in principle accessible to cold-atom synthetic dimensions, photonic resonators, and topolectrical circuits.