We report on the numerically exact simulation of the dissipative dynamics governed by quantum master equations that feature fractional quantum Hall states as unique steady states. In particular, for the paradigmatic Hofstadter model, we show how Laug
hlin states can be to good approximation prepared in a dissipative fashion from arbitrary initial states by simply pumping strongly interacting bosons into the lowest Chern band of the corresponding single-particle spectrum. While pure (up to topological degeneracy) steady states are only reached in the low-flux limit or for extended hopping range, we observe a certain robustness regarding the overlap of the steady state with fractional quantum Hall states for experimentally well-controlled flux densities. This may be seen as an encouraging step towards addressing the long-standing challenge of preparing strongly correlated topological phases in quantum simulators.
Exceptional points (EPs), at which both eigenvalues and eigenvectors coalesce, are ubiquitous and unique features of non-Hermitian systems. Second-order EPs are by far the most studied due to their abundance, requiring only the tuning of two real par
ameters, which is less than the three parameters needed to generically find ordinary Hermitian eigenvalue degeneracies. Higher-order EPs generically require more fine-tuning, and are thus assumed to play a much less prominent role. Here, however, we illuminate how physically relevant symmetries make higher-order EPs dramatically more abundant and conceptually richer. More saliently, third-order EPs generically require only two real tuning parameters in presence of either $PT$ symmetry or a generalized chiral symmetry. Remarkably, we find that these different symmetries yield topologically distinct types of EPs. We illustrate our findings in simple models, and show how third-order EPs with a generic $sim k^{1/3}$ dispersion are protected by PT-symmetry, while third-order EPs with a $sim k^{1/2}$ dispersion are protected by the chiral symmetry emerging in non-Hermitian Lieb lattice models. More generally, we identify stable, weak, and fragile aspects of symmetry-protected higher-order EPs, and tease out their concomitant phenomenology.
We establish the appearance of a qualitatively new type of spin liquid with emergent exceptional points when coupling to the environment. We consider an open system of the Kitaev honeycomb model generically coupled to an external environment. In exte
nded parameter regimes, the Dirac points of the emergent Majorana fermions from the original model are split into exceptional points with Fermi arcs connecting them. In glaring contrast to the original gapless phase of the honeycomb model which requires time-reversal symmetry, this new phase is stable against all perturbations. The system also displays a large sensitivity to boundary conditions resulting from the non-Hermitian skin effect with telltale experimental consequences. Our results point to the emergence of new classes of spin liquids in open systems which might be generically realized due to unavoidable couplings with the environment.
Electrons in Type II Weyl semimetals display one-way propagation, which supports totally reflecting behavior at an endpoint, as one has for black hole horizons viewed from the inside. Junctions of Type I and Type II lead to equations identical to wha
t one has near black hole horizons, but the physical implications, we suggest, are quite different from expectations which are conventional in that context. The time-reversed, white hole configuration is also physically accessible.
We show that Weyl semimetals exhibit a mixed axial-torsional anomaly in the presence of axial torsion, a concept exclusive of these materials with no known natural fundamental interpretation in terms of the geometry of spacetime. This anomaly implies
a nonconservation of the axial current---the difference in current of left- and right-handed chiral fermions---when the torsion of the spacetime in which the Weyl fermions move couples with opposite sign to different chiralities. The anomaly is activated by driving transverse sound waves through a Weyl semimetal with a spatially varying tilted dispersion, which can be engineered by applying strain. This leads to sizable alternating current in presence of a magnetic field that provides a clear-cut experimental signature of our predictions.
We present a new approach to obtaining the scaling behavior of the entanglement entropy in fractional quantum Hall states from finite-size wavefunctions. By employing the torus geometry and the fact that the torus aspect ratio can be readily varied,
we can extract the entanglement entropy of a spatial block as a continuous function of the block boundary. This approach allows us to extract the topological entanglement entropy with an accuracy superior to what is possible on the spherical or disc geometry, where no natural continuously variable parameter is available. Other than the topological information, the study of entanglement scaling is also useful as an indicator of the difficulty posed by fractional quantum Hall states for various numerical techniques.
