No Arabic abstract
A modified periodic boundary condition adequate for non-hermitian topological systems is proposed. Under this boundary condition a topological number characterizing the system is defined in the same way as in the corresponding hermitian system and hence, at the cost of introducing an additional parameter that characterizes the non-hermitian skin effect, the idea of bulk-edge correspondence in the hermitian limit can be applied almost as it is. We develop this framework through the analysis of a non-hermitian SSH model with chiral symmetry, and prove the bulk-edge correspondence in a generalized parameter space. A finite region in this parameter space with a nontrivial pair of chiral winding numbers is identified as topologically nontrivial, indicating the existence of a topologically protected edge state under open boundary.
Bulk-boundary correspondence is the cornerstone of topological physics. In some non-Hermitian topological system this fundamental relation is broken in the sense that the topological number calculated for the Bloch energy band under the periodic boundary condition fails to reproduce the boundary properties under the open boundary. To restore the bulk-boundary correspondence in such non-Hermitian systems a framework beyond the Bloch band theory is needed. We develop a non-Hermitian Bloch band theory based on a modified periodic boundary condition that allows a proper description of the bulk of a non-Hermitian topological insulator in a manner consistent with its boundary properties. Taking a non-Hermitian version of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model as an example, we demonstrate our scenario, in which the concept of bulk-boundary correspondence is naturally generalized to non-Hermitian topological systems.
The breakdown of the bulk-boundary correspondence in non-Hermitian (NH) topological systems is an open, controversial issue. In this paper, to resolve this issue, we ask the following question: Can a (global) topological invariant completely describe the topological properties of a NH system as its Hermitian counterpart? Our answer is no. One cannot use a global topological invariant (including non-Bloch topological invariant) to accurately characterize the topological properties of the NH systems. Instead, there exist a new type of topological invariants that are absence in its Hermitian counterpart -- the state dependent topological invariants. With the help of the state-dependent topological invariants, we develop a new topological theory for NH topological system beyond the general knowledge for usual Hermitian systems and obtain an exact formulation of the bulk-boundary correspondence, including state-dependent phase diagram, state-dependent phase transition and anomalous transport properties (spontaneous topological current). Therefore, these results will help people to understand the exotic topological properties of various non-Hermitian systems.
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 anomalous boundary mode. We thus establish a correspondence between the topological classifications of $(d+1)$-dimensional gapped Hermitian systems and $d$-dimensional point-gapped non-Hermitian systems. We illustrate this general result with a number of examples in different dimensions. This work provides a new perspective on point-gap topological invariants in non-Hermitian systems.
We provide a systematic and self-consistent method to calculate the generalized Brillouin Zone (GBZ) analytically in one dimensional non-Hermitian systems, which helps us to understand the non-Hermitian bulk-boundary correspondence. In general, a n-band non-Hermitian Hamiltonian is constituted by n distinct sub-GBZs, each of which is a piecewise analytic closed loop. Based on the concept of resultant, we can show that all the analytic properties of the GBZ can be characterized by an algebraic equation, the solution of which in the complex plane is dubbed as auxiliary GBZ (aGBZ). We also provide a systematic method to obtain the GBZ from aGBZ. Two physical applications are also discussed. Our method provides an analytic approach to the spectral problem of open boundary non-Hermitian systems in the thermodynamic limit.
In the past decades, topological concepts have emerged to classify matter states beyond the Ginzburg-Landau symmetry breaking paradigm. The underlying global invariants are usually characterized by integers, such as Chern or winding numbers. Very recently, band topology characterized by non-Abelian topological charges has been proposed, which possess non-commutative and fruitful braiding structures with multiple (>1) bandgaps entangled together. Despite many potential exquisite applications including quantum computations, no experimental observation of non-Abelian topological charges has been reported. Here, we experimentally observe the non-Abelian topological charges in a PT (parity and time-reversal) symmetric system. More importantly, we propose non-Abelian bulk-edge correspondence, where edge states are found to be described by non-Abelian charges. Our work opens the door towards non-Abelian topological phase characterization and manipulation.