We present a formal geometric framework for the study of adiabatic quantum mechanics for arbitrary finite-dimensional non-degenerate Hamiltonians. This framework generalizes earlier holonomy interpretations of the geometric phase to non-cyclic states
appearing for non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. We start with an investigation of the space of non-degenerate operators on a finite-dimensional state space. We then show how the energy bands of a Hamiltonian family form a covering space. Likewise, we show that the eigenrays form a bundle, a generalization of a principal bundle, which admits a natural connection yielding the (generalized) geometric phase. This bundle provides in addition a natural generalization of the quantum geometric tensor and derived tensors, and we show how it can incorporate the non-geometric dynamical phase as well. We finish by demonstrating how the bundle can be recast as a principal bundle, so that both the geometric phases and the permutations of eigenstates can be expressed simultaneously by means of standard holonomy theory.
We study fiber bundles where the fibers are not a group $G$, but a free $G$-space with disjoint orbits. These bundles closely resemble principal bundles, hence we call them semi-principal bundles. The study of such bundles is facilitated by defining
the notion of a basis of a $G$-set, in analogy with a basis of a vector space. The symmetry group of these bases is a wreath product. Similar to vector bundles, using the notion of a basis induces a frame bundle construction, which in this case results in a principal bundle with the wreath product as structure group. This construction can be formalized in the language of a functor, which retracts the semi-principal bundles to the principal bundles. In addition, semi-principal bundles support parallel transport just like principal bundles, and this carries over to the frame bundle.
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.
The defining characteristic of an exceptional point (EP) in the parameter space of a family of operators is that upon encircling the EP eigenstates are permuted. In case one encircles multiple EPs, the question arises how to properly compose the effe
cts of the individual EPs. This was thought to be ambiguous. We show that one can solve this problem by considering based loops and their deformations. The theory of fundamental groups allows to generalize this technique to arbitrary degeneracy structures like exceptional lines in a three-dimensional parameter space. As permutations of three or more objects form a non-abelian group, the next question that arises is whether one can experimentally demonstrate this non-commutative behavior. This requires at least two EPs of a family of operators that have at least 3 eigenstates. A concrete implementation in a recently proposed $mathcal{PT}$ symmetric waveguide system is suggested as an example of how to experimentally check the composition law and show the non-abelian nature of non-hermitian systems with multiple EPs.
