Related papers: Must a Hamiltonian be Hermitian?
Recent work has demonstrated the existence of universal Hamiltonians - simple spin lattice models that can simulate any other quantum many body system to any desired level of accuracy. Until now proofs of universality have relied on…
The operational approach to time is a cornerstone of relativistic theories, as evidenced by the notion of proper time. In standard quantum mechanics, however, time is an external parameter. Recently, many attempts have been made to extend…
Quantum systems governed by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians with $\PT$ symmetry are special in having real energy eigenvalues bounded below and unitary time evolution. We argue that $\PT$ symmetry may also be important and present at the level…
A defining quantity of a physical system is its energy which is represented by the Hamiltonian. In closed quantum mechanical or/and coherent wave-based systems the Hamiltonian is introduced as a Hermitian operator which ensures real energy…
We show that a quantum system possessing an exact antilinear symmetry, in particular PT-symmetry, is equivalent to a quantum system having a Hermitian Hamiltonian. We construct the unitary operator relating an arbitrary non-Hermitian…
We formulate a systematic algorithm for constructing a whole class of Hermitian position-dependent-mass Hamiltonians which, to lowest order of perturbation theory, allow a description in terms of PT-symmetric Hamiltonians. The method is…
It has been found that complex non-Hermitian quantum-mechanical Hamiltonians may have entirely real spectra and generate unitary time evolution if they possess an unbroken $\cP\cT$ symmetry. A well-studied class of such Hamiltonians is $H=…
Although the Hamiltonian in quantum physics has to be a linear operator, it is possible to make quantum systems behave as if their Hamiltonians contained antilinear (i.e., semilinear or conjugate-linear) terms. For any given quantum system,…
In this work we present a general formalism to treat non-Hermitian and noncommutative Hamiltonians. This is done employing the phase-space formalism of quantum mechanics, which allows to write a set of robust maps connecting the Hamitonians…
The Hilbert space in PT-symmetric quantum mechanics is formulated as a linear vector space with a dynamic inner product. The most general PT-symmetric matrix Hamiltonians are constructed for 2*2 and 3*3 cases. In the former case, the…
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…
In ${\cal PT}-$symmetric quantum mechanics one of the most characteristic mathematical features of the formalism is the explicit Hamiltonian-dependence of the physical Hilbert space of states ${\cal H}={\cal H}(H)$. Some of the most…
PT-symmetric systems can have a real spectrum even when their Hamiltonian is non-hermitian, but develop a complex spectrum when the degree of non-hermiticity increases. Here we utilize random-matrix theory to show that this spontaneous…
While fundamental physically realistic Hamiltonians should be invariant under time reversal, time asymmetric Hamiltonians can occur as mathematical possibilities or effective Hamiltonians. Here, we study conditions under which…
The ordinary time-dependent perturbation theory of quantum mechanics, that describes the interaction of a stationary system with a time-dependent perturbation, predicts that the transition probabilities induced by the perturbation are…
We explain why the main conclusion of Bender et al, hep-th/0511229 [J. Phys. A 39 (2006) 1657] regarding the practical superiority of the non-Hermitian description of PT-symmetric quantum systems over their Hermitian description is not…
Analogue Hamiltonian simulation is a promising near-term application of quantum computing and has recently been put on a theoretical footing. In Hamiltonian simulation, a physical Hamiltonian is engineered to have identical physics to…
Quantum theory can be formulated with certain non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. An anti-linear involution, denoted by PT, is a symmetry of such Hamiltonians. In the PT-symmetric regime the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian is related to a Hermitian one…
We present an evaluation of some recent attempts at understanding the role of pseudo-Hermitian and PT-symmetric Hamiltonians in modeling unitary quantum systems and elaborate on a particular physical phenomenon whose discovery originated in…
The Hermiticity axiom of quantum mechanics guarantees that the energy spectrum is real and the time evolution is unitary (probability-preserving). Nevertheless, non-Hermitian but $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric Hamiltonians may also have real…