Crystalline topological insulators and superconductors have been a prominent topic in the field of condensed matter physics. These systems obey certain crystalline (spatial) symmetries that depend on the geometry of the lattice. The presence of spatial symmetries can lead to shift in the classification of ten fold Altland Zirnbauer class, given rise to new symmetry protected topological phases. If the constraint of Hermiticity is broken, the classification expand into 38 fold. In this paper, following procedures in Hermitian systems, we classify all possible types of order-two spatial symmetries for point gapped non Hermitian systems within 16 out of 38 non Hermitian topological classes. These 16 classes are denoted by AZ and AZ^$†$ classes. We show that, similar to the Hermitian case, spatial symmetries will also lead to a shift in the classification of AZ and AZ^$†$ classes. There also exist novel symmetry protected topological phases exclusive to point gapped non Hermitian Hamiltonians. Toy models are also given based on our classifications.
We develop the topological band theory for systems described by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, whose energy spectra are generally complex. After generalizing the notion of gapped band structures to the non-Hermitian case, we classify "gapped" bands in one and two dimensions by explicitly finding their topological invariants. We find nontrivial generalizations of the Chern number in two dimensions, and a new classification in one dimension, whose topology is determined by the energy dispersion rather than the energy eigenstates. We then study the bulk-edge correspondence and the topological phase …
We classify topological phases of non-Hermitian systems in the Altland-Zirnbauer classes with an additional reflection symmetry in all dimensions. By mapping the non-Hermitian system into an enlarged Hermitian Hamiltonian with an enforced chiral symmetry, our topological classification is thus equivalent to classifying Hermitian systems with both chiral and reflection symmetries, which effectively change the classifying space and shift the periodical table of topological phases. According to our classification tables, we provide concrete examples for all topologically nontrivial non-Hermitian …
We study the properties of the entanglement spectrum in gapped non-interacting non-Hermitian systems, and its relation to the topological properties of the system Hamiltonian. Two different families of entanglement Hamiltonians can be defined in non-Hermitian systems, depending on whether we consider only right (or equivalently only left) eigenstates or a combination of both left and right eigenstates. We show that their entanglement spectra can still be computed efficiently, as in the Hermitian limit. We discuss how symmetries of the Hamiltonian map into symmetries of the entanglement spectru…
We characterize non-Hermitian band structures by symmetry indicator topological invariants. Enabled by crystalline inversion symmetry, these indicators allow us to short-cut the calculation of conventional non-Hermitian topological invariants. In particular, we express the three-dimensional winding number of point-gapped non-Hermitian systems, which is defined as an integral over the whole Brillouin zone, in terms of symmetry eigenvalues at high-symmetry momenta. Furthermore, for time-reversal symmetric non-Hermitian topological insulators, we find that symmetry indicators characterize the ass…
The hallmark of symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases is the existence of anomalous boundary states, which can only be realized with the corresponding bulk system. In this work, we show that for every Hermitian anomalous boundary mode of the ten Altland-Zirnbauer classes, a non-Hermitian counterpart can be constructed, whose long time dynamics provides a realization of the anomalous boundary state. We prove that the non-Hermitian counterpart is characterized by a point-gap topological invariant, and furthermore, that the invariant exactly matches that of the corresponding Hermitian anoma…
We demonstrate that crystal defects can act as a probe of intrinsic non-Hermitian topology. In particular, in point-gapped systems with periodic boundary conditions, a pair of dislocations may induce a non-Hermitian skin effect, where an extensive number of Hamiltonian eigenstates localize at only one of the two dislocations. An example of such a phase are two-dimensional systems exhibiting weak non-Hermitian topology, which are adiabatically related to a decoupled stack of Hatano-Nelson chains. Moreover, we show that strong two-dimensional point-gap topology may also result in a dislocation r…
Although the non-Bloch band theory is a milestone in elaborating bulk energy bands of non-Hermitian systems under the open-boundary condition (OBC), vital issues related to multivalued functions of non-Hermitian energy bands remain unsolved. In this paper, we anatomize the bulk properties of one-dimensional multiband non-Hermitian systems under OBC. We put forward the energy-band branches (EBBs) to settle the multivalued functions of non-Hermitian energy bands, which become gapped or gapless corresponding to disconnected or connected EBBs in the complex energy plane, where the branch points an…
We generalize the modern theory of electric polarization to the case of one-dimensional non-Hermitian systems with line-gapped spectrum. In these systems, the electronic position operator is non-Hermitian even when projected into the subspace of states below the energy gap. However, the associated Wilson-loop operator is biorthogonally unitary in the thermodynamic limit, thereby leading to real-valued electronic positions that allow for a clean definition of polarization. Non-Hermitian polarization can be quantized in the presence of certain symmetries, as for Hermitian insulators. Different f…
Topological characterization of phase transitions and critical edge states in one-dimensional non-Hermitian systems with sublattice symmetry
Ocean University of China（中国海洋大学）；Key Laboratory of Optics and Optoelectronics（光学与光电子学重点实验室）；Engineering Research Center of Advanced Marine Physical Instruments and Equipment of MOE（教育部先进海洋物理仪器和设备工程研究中心）
Topological phases in spinless non-Hermitian models have been widely studied both theoretically and experimentally in some artificial materials using photonics, phononics and magnon. In this work, we investigate the interplay between non-Hermitian loss and gain and non-Abelian gauge potential realized in a two-component superconducting circuit. In our model, the non-Hermiticity along only gives rise to trivial gain and loss to the states; while the non-Abelian gauge along gives rise to flying butterfly spectra and associated edge modes, which in photonics can be directly measured by the intens…
A nonzero non-Hermitian winding number indicates that a gapped system is in a nontrivial topological class due to the non-Hermiticity of its Hamiltonian. While for Hermitian systems nontrivial topological quantum numbers are reflected by the existence of edge states, a nonzero non-Hermitian winding number impacts a system's bulk response. To establish this relation, we introduce the bulk Green function, which describes the response of a gapped system to an external perturbation on timescales where the induced excitations have not propagated to the boundary yet, and show that it will grow in sp…
Quantized bulk quadrupole moment has unveiled a nontrivial boundary state, exhibiting lower-dimensional topological edge states and simultaneously hosting the in-gap corner modes of zero dimension. All state-of-the-art strategies for topological thermal metamaterials have so far failed to observe such higher-order hierarchical features, since the absence of quantized bulk quadrupole moments in thermal diffusion fundamentally forbids the possible expansions of band topology, unlike its photonic counterpart. Here, we report a recipe of creating quantized bulk quadrupole moments in diffusion, and…
Thermal density matrices can be described by a pure quantum state within the thermofield formalism. Here we show how to construct a class of Hamiltonians realizing a thermofield state as their ground state. These Hamiltonians are frustration-free, and can be Hermitian or non-Hermitian, allowing one to use ground-state methods to understand the thermodynamic properties of the system. In particular this approach gives an explicit mapping of thermal phase transitions into quantum phase transitions. In the non-Hermitian case, the quantum phase transition is not accompanied by a change in the spect…
We propose a non-Hermitian topological system protected by the generalized rotational symmetry which invokes rotation in space and Hermitian conjugation. The system, described by the tight-binding model with nonreciprocal hopping, is found to host two pairs of in-gap edge modes in the gapped topological phase and is characterized by the non-Hermitian (NH) Chern number $C_{NH}=2$. The quantization of the non-Hermitian Chern number is shown to be protected by the generalized rotational symmetry $Ĥ^{+}=ÛĤÛ^{+}$ of the system. Our finding paves the way towards novel non-Hermitian topological syste…
Genuinely non-Hermitian topological phases can be realized in open systems with sufficiently strong gain and loss; in such phases, the Hamiltonian cannot be deformed into a gapped Hermitian Hamiltonian without energy bands touching each other. Comparing Green functions for periodic and open boundary conditions we find that, in general, there is no correspondence between topological invariants computed for periodic boundary conditions, and boundary eigenstates observed for open boundary conditions. Instead, we find that the non-Hermitian winding number in one dimension signals a topological pha…
Non-Hermiticity alters topology with the presence of non-Hermitian factors in topological systems. Most existing non-Hermitian topological systems derive their topological phases from Hermitian components, that is, the gain and loss of the system are considered simultaneously. In this work, we reveal two-dimensional non-Hermitian high-order topological insulator based on one-dimensional SSH chain, the nontrivial topology of which induced by total-loss. By introducing the loss of a specific configuration, we get a band gap with corner and edge states whose topology is characterized by the gappe…
The Hopf insulator is a three-dimensional topological insulator outside the standard classification of topological insulators. Here we consider two types of non-Hermitian Hopf insulators, one without and one with the non-Hermitian skin effect. The isolated gapless points of the Hermitian model are broadened into finite regimes in the non-Hermitian models. However, the modulus of the Hopf index remains quantized in the gapped regions. The model without the non-Hermitian skin effect allows an accurate evaluation of its generalized Hopf index and energy spectrum, showing an agreement between the …
Topological phases of matter are classified based on their Hermitian Hamiltonians, whose real-valued dispersions together with orthogonal eigenstates form nontrivial topology. In the recently discovered higher-order topological insulators (TIs), the bulk topology can even exhibit hierarchical features, leading to topological corner states, as demonstrated in many photonic and acoustic artificial materials. Naturally, the intrinsic loss in these artificial materials has been omitted in the topology definition, due to its non-Hermitian nature; in practice, the presence of loss is generally consi…
We introduce and investigate material junctions as a generic and tuneable electronic platform for the realization of exotic non-Hermitian (NH) topological states of matter, where the NH character is induced by the surface self-energy of a thermal reservoir. As a conceptually rich and immediately experimentally realizable example, we consider a three-dimensional topological insulator (TI) coupled to a ferromagnetic lead. Remarkably, the symmetry protected TI is promoted in a dissipative fashion to a non-symmetry protected NH Weyl phase with no direct Hermitian counterpart and which exhibits rob…
It is generally believed that non-Hermiticity can transform Weyl semimetals into Weyl-exceptional-ring semimetals. However, this belief is from the systems without skin effect. We investigate the non-Hermitian Weyl semimental and its Floquet engineering in a system with skin effect, which breaks the bulk-boundary correspondence in its Hermitian counterpart. It is found in both the static and periodically driven cases that the skin effect makes this general belief no longer valid. We discover that exotic non-Hermitian topological matters, e.g., a composite phase of Weyl semimetal and topologica…
Galois conjugation relates unitary conformal field theories (CFTs) and topological quantum field theories (TQFTs) to their non-unitary counterparts. Here we investigate Galois conjugates of quantum double models, such as the Levin-Wen model. While these Galois conjugated Hamiltonians are typically non-Hermitian, we find that their ground state wave functions still obey a generalized version of the usual code property (local operators do not act on the ground state manifold) and hence enjoy a generalized topological protection. The key question addressed in this paper is whether such non-unitar…
The energy band attraction (EBA) caused by the non-orthogonal eigenvectors is a unique phenomenon in the non-Hermitian (NH) system. However, restricted by the required tight-binding approximation and meticulously engineered complex potentials, such effect has not been experimentally demonstrated. Here, an experimentally verifiable model is proposed based on the photonic counterpart of the all-dielectric Mie-resonator lattice in a parallel-plate transmission line. Through theoretical derivation, we directly connect the transmission spectra with eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the NH Hamiltonian…
Topology and edge modes surviving criticality in non-Hermitian Floquet systems
College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Ocean University of China（中国海洋大学物理与光电工程学院）；Qingdao Key Laboratory of Advanced Optoelectronics（青岛先进光学重点实验室）；Engineering Research Center of Advanced Marine Physical Instruments and Equipment of MOE（教育部海洋高端装备工程研究中心）
Dynamical spin-nematic correlation in a transverse field Ising chain with non-Hermitian Gamma interaction
School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Foshan University（佛山大学物理与光电工程学院）；College of Physics and Materials Science, Tianjin Normal University（天津师范大学物理与材料科学学院）；Guangdong-HongKong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Intelligent Micro-Nano Optoelectronic Technology（广东港澳智能微纳光电子联合实验室）
In the band theory for non-Hermitian systems, the energy eigenvalues, which are complex, can exhibit non-trivial topology which is not present in Hermitian systems. In one dimension, it was recently noted theoretically and demonstrated experimentally that the eigenvalue topology is classified by the braid group. The classification of eigenvalue topology in higher dimensions, however, remained an open question. Here, we give a complete description of eigenvalue topology in two and three dimensional systems, including the gapped and gapless cases. We reduce the topological classification problem…
We systematically study a Kitaev chain with imbalanced pair creation and annihilation, which is introduced by non-Hermitian pairing terms. Exact phase diagram shows that the topological phase is still robust under the influence of the conditional imbalance. The gapped phases are characterized by a topological invariant, the extended Zak phase, which is defined by the biorthonormal inner product. Such phases are destroyed at the points where the coalescence of groundstates occur, associating with the time-reversal symmetry breaking. We find that the Majorana edge modes also exist for the open c…
We investigate the topology and localization of one-dimensional Hermitian and non-Hermitian Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chains with quasiperiodic hopping modulations. In the Hermitian case, phase diagrams are obtained by numerically and analytically calculating various topological and localization characters. We show the presence of topological extended, intermediate, and localized phases due to the coexistence of independent topological and localization phase transitions driven by the quasiperiodic disorder. Unlike the gapless and localized TAI phase in one-dimensional random disordered systems, we …
We classify topological defects in non-Hermitian systems with point gap, real gap and imaginary gap for all the Bernard-LeClair classes or generalized Bernard-LeClair classes in all dimensions. The defect Hamiltonian $H(\bf{k}, {\bf r})$ is described by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian with spatially modulated adiabatical parameter ${\bf r}$ surrounding the defect. While the non-Hermitian system with point gap belongs to any of 38 symmetry classes (Bernard-LeClair classes), for non-Hermitian systems with line-like gap we get 54 non-equivalent generalized Bernard-LeClair classes as a natural general…
We propose a two-dimensional non-Hermitian Chern insulator with inversion symmetry, which is anisotropic and has staggered gain and loss in both x and y directions. In this system, conventional bulk-boundary correspondence holds. The Chern number is a topological invariant that accurately predicts the topological phase transition and the existence of helical edge states in the topologically nontrivial gapped phase. In the gapless phase, the band touching points are isolated and protected by the symmetry. The degenerate points alter the system topology, and the exceptional points can destroy th…
Recent experimental advances in Floquet engineering and controlling dissipation in open systems have brought about unprecedented flexibility in tailoring novel phenomena without any static and Hermitian analogues. It can be epitomized by the various Floquet and non-Hermitian topological phases. Topological classifications of either static/Floquet Hermitian or static non-Hermitian systems based on the underlying symmetries have been well established in the past several years. However, a coherent understanding and classification of Floquet non-Hermitian (FNH) topological phases have not been ach…
Despite recent extensive studies of the non-Hermitian topology, understanding interaction effects is left as a crucial question. In this paper, we address interaction effects on exceptional points which are protected by the non-trivial point-gap topology unique to non-Hermitian systems. Our analysis in a two-dimensional parameter space elucidates the existence of exceptional points and symmetry-protected exceptional rings fragile against interactions; they are topologically protected only in non-interacting cases. This fragility of exceptional points and symmetry-protected exceptional rings ar…
In this article we study 3D non-Hermitian higher-order Dirac semimetals (NHHODSMs). Our focus is on $C_4$-symmetric non-Hermitian systems where we investigate inversion ($\mathcal{I}$) or time-reversal ($\mathcal{T}$) symmetric models of NHHODSMs having real bulk spectra. We show that they exhibit the striking property that the bulk and surfaces are anti-PT and PT symmetric, respectively, and so belong to two different topological classes realizing a novel non-Hermitian topological phase which we call a \emph{hybrid-PT topological phases}. Interestingly, while the bulk spectrum is still fully …
Exceptional Topology Survives Strong Hermitian Fields in Radiative Atomic Arrays
Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica（中央研究院原子与分子科学研究所）；Department of Physics, National Taiwan University（台湾大学物理系）；Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校物理系）；Department of Physics and Astronomy, Purdue University（普渡大学物理与天文系）；Physics Division, National Center for Theoretical Sciences（国家理论科学中心物理组）；Department of Physics, National Taiwan Normal University（台湾师范大学物理系）；Department of Physics, National Central University（中央大学物理系）
We revisit the problem of classifying topological band structures in non-Hermitian systems. Recently, a solution has been proposed, which is based on redefining the notion of energy band gap in two different ways, leading to the so-called "point-gap" and "line-gap" schemes. However, simple Hamiltonians without band degeneracies can be constructed which correspond to neither of the two schemes. Here, we resolve this shortcoming of the existing classifications by developing the most general topological characterization of non-Hermitian bands for systems without a symmetry. Our approach, which is…
The current understanding of the role of topology in non-Hermitian (NH) systems and its far-reaching physical consequences observable in a range of dissipative settings are reviewed. In particular, how the paramount and genuinely NH concept of exceptional degeneracies, at which both eigenvalues and eigenvectors coalesce, leads to phenomena drastically distinct from the familiar Hermitian realm is discussed. An immediate consequence is the ubiquitous occurrence of nodal NH topological phases with concomitant open Fermi-Seifert surfaces, where conventional band-touching points are replaced by th…
Anomalous Collision of Exceptional Points on Nonorientable Manifolds
Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education and School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University（教育部人工微纳结构重点实验室与物理科学与技术学院，武汉大学）
We investigate the existence of higher order exceptional points (EPs) in non-Hermitian systems, and show that $μ$-fold EPs are stable in $μ-1$ dimensions in the presence of anti-unitary symmetries that are local in parameter space, such as e.g. PT or CP symmetries. This implies in particular that 3-fold and 4-fold symmetry-protected EPs are stable respectively in 2 and 3 dimensions. The stability of such exceptional points is expressed in terms of the homotopy properties of a "resultant vector" that we introduce. Our framework also allows us to rephrase the previously proposed $\mathbb{Z}_2$ i…
A driven-dissipative nonlinear photonic system (e.g. exciton-polaritons) can operate in a gapped superfluid regime. We theoretically demonstrate that the reflection of a linear wave on this superfluid is an analogue of the Andreev reflection of an electron on a superconductor. A normal region surrounded by two superfluids is found to host Andreev-like bound states. These bound states form topological synthetic bands versus the phase difference between the two superfluids. Changing the width of the normal region allows to invert the band topology and to create "interface" states. Instead of dem…
We investigate topological properties and classification of mean-field theories of stable bosonic systems. Of the three standard classifying symmetries, only time-reversal represents a real symmetry of the many-boson system, while the other two, particle-hole and chiral, are simply constraints that manifest as symmetries of the effective single-particle problem. For gapped systems in arbitrary space dimension we establish three fundamental no-go theorems that prove the absence of: parity switches, symmetry-protected-topological quantum phases, and localized bosonic zero modes under open bounda…
