Related papers: Introduction to PT-Symmetric Quantum Theory
In a remarkable development Bender and coworkers have shown that it is possible to formulate quantum mechanics consistently even if the Hamiltonian and other observables are not Hermitian. Their formulation, dubbed PT quantum mechanics,…
PT-symmetric quantum theory was originally proposed with the aim of extending standard quantum theory by relaxing the Hermiticity constraint on Hamiltonians. However, no such extension has been formulated that consistently describes states,…
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…
Describing systems with non-Hermitian (NH) operators remains a challenge in quantum theory due to instabilities (e.g., exceptional points and decoherence) arising from interactions with the environment. We propose a framework to express the…
The Hamiltonian for quantum electrodynamics becomes non-Hermitian if the unrenormalized electric charge $e$ is taken to be imaginary. However, if one also specifies that the potential $A^\mu$ in such a theory transforms as a pseudovector…
The {\eta} pseudo PT symmetry theory, denoted by the symbol {\eta}, 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^{{\dag}}…
In the conventional Schr\"{o}dinger's formulation of quantum mechanics the unitary evolution of a state $\psi$ is controlled, in Hilbert space ${\cal L}$, by a Hamiltonian $\mathfrak{h}$ which must be self-adjoint. In the recent,…
Theories described by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians are known to possess strictly positive energy eigenvalues and exhibit unitary time evolution if the Hamiltonian is symmetric under discrete parity and time (PT) transformation. In this work,…
A series of recent papers ``Faster than Hermitian Quantum Mechanics'' and related articles made a point of the possibility of a non-Hermitian, but PT-symmetric, operator to play the role of a Hamiltonian. In particular, they show that with…
Despite its common use in quantum theory, the mathematical requirement of Dirac Hermiticity of a Hamiltonian is sufficient to guarantee the reality of energy eigenvalues but not necessary. By establishing three theorems, this paper gives…
Two alternative scenarios are shown possible in Quantum Mechanics working with non-Hermitian $PT-$symmetric form of observables. While, usually, people assume that $P$ is a self-adjoint indefinite metric in Hilbert space (and that their…
For a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian H possessing a real spectrum, we introduce a canonical orthonormal basis in which a previously introduced unitary mapping of H to a Hermitian Hamiltonian h takes a simple form. We use this basis to construct…
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…
Currently there is much interest in Hamiltonians that are not Hermitian but instead possess an antilinear $PT$ symmetry, since such Hamiltonians can still lead to the time-independent evolution of scalar products, and can still have an…
Update: A time-independent $n\times n$ PT-symmetric (and symmetric) Hamiltonian is diagonalizable since it has all distinct real eigenvalues and the resulting diagonal matrix is a real symmetric matrix. The diagonalization results an…
PT-symmetric Hamiltonians and transfer matrices arise naturally in statistical mechanics. These classical and quantum models often require the use of complex or negative weights and thus fall outside of the conventional equilibrium…
A non-Hermitian Hamiltonian that has an unbroken PT symmetry can be converted by means of a similarity transformation to a physically equivalent Hermitian Hamiltonian. This raises the following question: In which form of the quantum theory,…
Standard quantum mechanics predicts the non-conservation of state norms and probability when the fundamental requirement of the Hermiticity of the Hamiltonian is relaxed. Biorthogonal quantum mechanics, or the more general metric formalism,…
Among ${\cal P}$-pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians $H ={\cal P}^{-1} H^\dagger \cal P}$ with real spectra, the ''weakly pseudo-Hermitian" ones (i.e., those employing non-self-adjoint ${\cal P} \neq {\cal P}^\dagger$) form a remarkable…
Within CPT-symmetric quantum mechanics the most elementary differential form of the charge operator C is assumed. A closed-form integrability of the related coupled differential self-consistency conditions and a natural embedding of the…