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arXiv:physics/9712001 · Physical Review Letters

Real Spectra in Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians Having P T Symmetry

Carl M. Bender, Stefan Boettcher

Published Jun 15, 1998• 6,672 citations
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Abstract

The condition of self-adjointness ensures that the eigenvalues of a Hamiltonian are real and bounded below. Replacing this condition by the weaker condition of $\mathrm{PT}$ symmetry, one obtains new infinite classes of complex Hamiltonians whose spectra are also real and positive. These $\mathrm{PT}$ symmetric theories may be viewed as analytic continuations of conventional theories from real to complex phase space. This paper describes the unusual classical and quantum properties of these theories.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.80.5243

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The condition of self-adjointness ensures that the eigenvalues of a Hamiltonian are real and bounded below. Replacing this condition by the weaker condition of PT\mathrm{PT}PT symmetry, one obtains new infinite classes of complex Hamiltonians whose spectra are also real and positive. These PT\mathrm{PT}PT symmetric theories may be viewed as analytic continuations of conventional theories from real to complex phase space. This paper describes the unusual classical and quantum properties of these theories.
This paper proposes to broaden the canonical formulation of quantum mechanics.Ordinarily, one imposes the condition H † = H on the Hamiltonian, where † represents the mathematical operation of complex conjugation and matrix transposition.This conventional Hermiticity condition is sufficient to ensure that the Hamiltonian H has a real spectrum.However, replacing this mathematical condition by the weaker and more physical requirement H ‡ = H, where ‡ represents combined parity reflection and time reversal PT , one obtains new classes of complex Hamiltonians whose spectra are still real and positive.This generalization of Hermiticity is investigated using a complex deformation H = p 2 + x 2 (ix) ǫ of the harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian, where ǫ is a real parameter.The system exhibits two phases: When ǫ ≥ 0, the energy spectrum of H is real and positive as a consequence of PT symmetry.However, when -1 < ǫ < 0, the spectrum contains an infinite number of complex eigenvalues and a finite number of real, positive eigenvalues because PT symmetry is spontaneously broken.The phase transition that occurs at ǫ = 0 manifests itself in both the quantum-mechanical system and the underlying classical system.Similar qualitative features are exhibited by complex deformations of other standard real Hamiltonians H = p 2 + x 2N (ix) ǫ with N integer and ǫ > -N ; each of these complex Hamiltonians exhibits a phase transition at ǫ = 0.These PT -symmetric theories may be viewed as analytic continuations of conventional theories from real to complex phase space.
This paper proposes to broaden the canonical formulation of quantum mechanics. Ordinarily, one imposes the condition H†=H on the Hamiltonian, where † represents the mathematical operation of complex conjugation and matrix transposition. This conventional Hermiticity condition is sufficient to ensure that the Hamiltonian H has a real spectrum. However, replacing this mathematical condition by the weaker and more physical requirement H‡=H, where ‡ represents combined parity reflection and time reversal 𝒫𝒯, one obtains new classes of complex Hamiltonians whose spectra are still real and positive. This generalization of Hermiticity is investigated using a complex deformation H=p2+x2(ix)ε of the harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian, where ε is a real parameter. The system exhibits two phases: When ε⩾0, the energy spectrum of H is real and positive as a consequence of 𝒫𝒯 symmetry. However, when −1<ε<0, the spectrum contains an infinite number of complex eigenvalues and a finite number of real, positive eigenvalues because 𝒫𝒯 symmetry is spontaneously broken. The phase transition that occurs at ε=0 manifests itself in both the quantum-mechanical system and the underlying classical system. Similar qualitative features are exhibited by complex deformations of other standard real Hamiltonians H=p2+x2N(ix)ε with N integer and ε>−N; each of these complex Hamiltonians exhibits a phase transition at ε=0. These 𝒫𝒯-symmetric theories may be viewed as analytic continuations of conventional theories from real to complex phase space.
The η pseudo PT symmetry theory, denoted by the symbol η, explores the conditions under which non-Hermitian Hamiltonians can possess real spectra despite the violation of PT symmetry, that is the adjoint of H, denoted H^{†} is expressed as H^{†}=PTHPT. This theory introduces a new symmetry operator, η=PTη, which acts on the Hilbert space. The η pseudo PT symmetry condition requires the Hamiltonian to commute with the η operator, leading to real eigenvalues. We discuss some general implications of our results for the coupled non hermitian harmonic oscillator.
In the theory of quantum mechanics the Hamiltonian H is typically selfadjoint, i.e., H = H *. The self-adjointness ensures that the spectrum of the Hamiltonian, representing the energy spectrum of H , is real but it is not a necessary condition. In the literature on so-called PT -symmetric quantum mechanics (see, e.g., [BB98], [BBM99], [BBJ03], [Ben04b] and [Ben07]), it is believed that self-adjointness is rather a mathematical requirement than a physically established fact. Therefore, it was considered a surprise that operators exist which are not self-adjoint in the given quantum mechanical Hilbert space, but have real spectrum and that – if e.g. complex eigenvalues were present – they occurred only in complex conjugate pairs.
We introduce and study a class of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians which have velocity dependent potentials. Since stability can not be advocated directly from the classical potential, we show that the energy spectra are real and bounded from below which proves the stability of the spectra of all members in the class. We find that the introduced class of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians do have a corresponding superpartner class of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. We were able to introduce supercharges which in conjunction with the corresponding super Hamiltonians constitute a closed super algebra. Among the introduced Hamiltonians, we show that non-PT\mathcal{PT }PT-symmetric Hamiltonians can be transformed into their corresponding superpartner Hamiltonians via a specific canonical transformation while the PT\mathcal{PT }PT-symmetric ones failed to be mapped to their corresponding superpartner Hamiltonians via the same canonical transformation. Since canonical transformations preserve the spectrum, we conclude that non-PT\mathcal{PT }PT-symmetric Hamiltonians out of the introduced class of Hamiltonians have the same spectrum as the corresponding superpartner Hamiltonians and thus Susy is broken for such Hamiltonians. This kind of intertwining of PT\mathcal{PT }PT-symmetry and Supersymmetry is new as all the so far discussed cases concentrate on Hamiltonians of broken $\mathcal{PT }% −symmetrythathavebrokenSupersymmetrytoowhileweshowedthatSusycanbealsobrokenfornon−-symmetry that have broken Supersymmetry too while we showed that Susy can be also broken for non-−symmetrythathavebrokenSupersymmetrytoowhileweshowedthatSusycanbealsobrokenfornon−\mathcal{PT }$-symmetric and non-Hermitian Hamiltonians .