We propose a regular representation for a non-Hermitian operator even if the parameter space contains exceptional points (EPs), at which the operator cannot be diagonalized and the usual spectral representation ceases to exist. Our representation has a generalized Jordan block form and is written in terms of extended pseudo-eigenstates. Our method is free from the difficulty of the singularity of the spectral representation at EPs, at which multiple eigenvalues and eigenvectors coalesce and the eigenvectors cannot be normalized. Our representation improves the accuracy of numerical calculations of physical quantities near EPs. We also find that our method is applicable to various problems related to EPs in the parameter space of non-Hermitian operators. We demonstrate the usefulness of our representation by investigating Boltzmann’s collision operator in a one-dimensional quantum Lorentz gas in the weak coupling approximation.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.7453
Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)

Scattering experiments with microwave cavities were performed and the effects of broken time-reversal invariance (TRI), induced by means of a magnetized ferrite placed inside the cavity, on an isolated doublet of nearly degenerate resonances were investigated. All elements of the effective Hamiltonian of this two-level system were extracted. As a function of two experimental parameters, the doublet and also the associated eigenvectors could be tuned to coalesce at a so-called exceptional point (EP). The behavior of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors when encircling the EP in parameter space was studied, including the geometric amplitude that builds up in the case of broken TRI. A one-dimensional subspace of parameters was found where the differences of the eigenvalues are either real or purely imaginary. There, the Hamiltonians were found PT-invariant under the combined operation of parity (P) and time reversal (T) in a generalized sense. The EP is the point of transition between both regions. There a spontaneous breaking of PT occurs.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1402.3537
Chaotic Dynamics (nlin.CD)

A set of \(r\) non-Hermitian oscillator Hamiltonians in \(r\) dimensions is shown to be simultaneously diagonalizable. Their spectra is real and the common eigenstates are expressed in terms of multiple Charlier polynomials. An algebraic interpretation of these polynomials is thus achieved and the model is used to derive some of their properties.

http://arxiv.org/abs/1106.5243
Mathematical Physics (math-ph)