No Arabic abstract
In a recent paper entitled Winding around non-Hermitian singularities by Zhong et al., published in Nat. Commun. 9, 4808 (2018), a formalism is proposed for calculating the permutations of eigenstates that arise upon encircling (multiple) exceptional points (EPs) in the complex parameter plane of an analytic non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. The authors suggest that upon encircling EPs one should track the eigenvalue branch cuts that are traversed, and multiply the associated permutation matrices accordingly. In this comment we point out a serious shortcoming of this approach, illustrated by an explicit example that yields the wrong result for a specific loop. A more general method that has been published earlier by us and that does not suffer from this problem, is based on using fundamental loops. We briefly explain the method and list its various advantages. In addition, we argue that this method can be verified in a three wave-guide system, which then also unambiguously establishes the noncommutativity associated with encircling multiple EPs.
In their comment, Poole et al. (2009) aim to show it is highly improbable that the observations described in Chepfer and Noel (2009), and described as NAT-like therein, are produced by Nitric Acid Trihydrate (NAT) particles. In this reply, we attempt to show why there is, in our opinion, too little evidence to reject this interpretation right away.
In this communication we refute a criticism concerning results of our work [3] that was presented in references [1] and [2].
Distant boundaries in linear non-Hermitian lattices can dramatically change energy eigenvalues and corresponding eigenstates in a nonlocal way. This effect is known as non-Hermitian skin effect (NHSE). Combining non-Hermitian skin effect with nonlinear effects can give rise to a host of novel phenomenas, which may be used for nonlinear structure designs. Here we study nonlinear non-Hermitian skin effect and explore nonlocal and substantial effects of edges on stationary nonlinear solutions. We show that fractal and continuum bands arise in a long lattice governed by a nonreciprocal discrete nonlinear Schrodinger equation. We show that stationary solutions are localized at the edge in the continuum band. We consider a non-Hermitian Ablowitz-Ladik model and show that nonlinear exceptional point disappears if the lattice is infinitely long.
The CLAS Collaboration provides a comment on the physics interpretation of the results presented in a paper published by M. Amaryan et al. regarding the possible observation of a narrow structure in the mass spectrum of a photoproduction experiment.
Information on quantum systems can be obtained only when they are open (or opened) in relation to a certain environment. As a matter of fact, realistic open quantum systems appear in very different shape. We sketch the theoretical description of open quantum systems by means of a projection operator formalism elaborated many years ago, and applied by now to the description of different open quantum systems. The Hamiltonian describing the open quantum system is non-Hermitian. Most studied are the eigenvalues of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian of many-particle systems embedded in one environment. We point to the unsolved problems of this method when applied to the description of realistic many-body systems. We then underline the role played by the eigenfunctions of the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian. Very interesting results originate from the fluctuations of the eigenfunctions in systems with gain and loss of excitons. They occur with an efficiency of nearly 100%. An example is the photosynthesis.