TY - JOUR

T1 - Universal routes to spontaneous PT-symmetry breaking in non-hermitian quantum systems

AU - Schomerus, Henning

N1 - ©2011 American Physical Society

PY - 2011/3/16

Y1 - 2011/3/16

N2 - PT-symmetric systems can have a real spectrum even when their Hamiltonian is non-Hermitian, but develop a complex spectrum when the degree of non-Hermiticity increases. Here we utilize random-matrix theory to show that this spontaneous PT-symmetry breaking can occur via two distinct mechanisms, whose predominance is associated to different universality classes. Present optical experiments fall into the orthogonal class, where symmetry-induced level crossings render the characteristic absorption rate independent of the coupling strength between the symmetry-related parts of the system.

AB - PT-symmetric systems can have a real spectrum even when their Hamiltonian is non-Hermitian, but develop a complex spectrum when the degree of non-Hermiticity increases. Here we utilize random-matrix theory to show that this spontaneous PT-symmetry breaking can occur via two distinct mechanisms, whose predominance is associated to different universality classes. Present optical experiments fall into the orthogonal class, where symmetry-induced level crossings render the characteristic absorption rate independent of the coupling strength between the symmetry-related parts of the system.

U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevA.83.030101

DO - 10.1103/PhysRevA.83.030101

M3 - Journal article

VL - 83

JO - Physical review a

JF - Physical review a

SN - 1050-2947

IS - 3

M1 - 030101

ER -