Degrees and signatures of broken PT symmetry in nonuniform lattices

We investigate the robustness of the parity- and time-reversal (PT) symmetric phase in an N-site lattice with a position-dependent, parity-symmetric hopping function and a pair of imaginary, PT-symmetric impurities. We find that the ''fragile''PT-symmetric phase in these lattices...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. A, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics Atomic, molecular, and optical physics, 2011-05, Vol.83 (5)
Main Authors: Scott, Derek D., Joglekar, Yogesh N.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS
FUNCTIONS
LATTICE PARAMETERS
OSCILLATION MODES
PARITY
PARTICLE PROPERTIES
PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
SINGLE-PARTICLE MODES
SYMMETRY
SYMMETRY BREAKING
TIME DEPENDENCE
WAVE PACKETS
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Summary:We investigate the robustness of the parity- and time-reversal (PT) symmetric phase in an N-site lattice with a position-dependent, parity-symmetric hopping function and a pair of imaginary, PT-symmetric impurities. We find that the ''fragile''PT-symmetric phase in these lattices is stronger than its counterpart in a lattice with constant hopping. With an open system in mind, we explore the degrees of broken PT symmetry and their signatures in single-particle wave-packet evolution. We predict that, when the PT-symmetric impurities are closest to each other, the time evolution of a wave packet in an even-N lattice is remarkably different from that in an odd-N lattice. Our results suggest that PT symmetry breaking in such lattices is accompanied by rich, hitherto unanticipated, phenomena.
ISSN:1050-2947
1094-1622
DOI:10.1103/PHYSREVA.83.050102