English

Symmetries and invariants for non-Hermitian Hamiltonians

Quantum Physics 2018-05-21 v2

Abstract

We discuss Hamiltonian symmetries and invariants for quantum systems driven by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. For time-independent Hermitian Hamiltonians, a unitary or antiunitary transformation AHAAHA^\dagger that leaves the Hamiltonian HH unchanged represents a symmetry of the Hamiltonian, which implies the commutativity [H,A]=0[H,A]=0, and a conservation law, namely the invariance of expectation values of AA. For non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, HH^\dagger comes into play as a distinct operator that complements HH in generalized unitarity relations. The above description of symmetries has to be extended to include also AA-pseudohermiticity relations of the form AH=HAAH=H^\dagger A. A superoperator formulation of Hamiltonian symmetries is provided and exemplified for Hamiltonians of a particle moving in one-dimension considering the set of AA operators forming Klein's 4-group: parity, time-reversal, parity\&time-reversal, and unity. The link between symmetry and conservation laws is discussed and shown to be more subtle for non-Hermitian than for Hermitian Hamiltonians.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1805.04968,
  title  = {Symmetries and invariants for non-Hermitian Hamiltonians},
  author = {M. A. Simón Martínez and A. Buendía and J. G. Muga},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1805.04968},
  year   = {2018}
}