Non-Hermiticities even in quantum systems that are closed

Abstract

Rarely noted paradoxes and their resolution lead to non-Hermitian behaviors due to boundary terms, even for closed systems and with real potentials. The role played by these non-Hermiticities on quantum mechanical uncertainty relations is discussed, especially in multiply-connected spaces. These subtleties, reflections of topological quantum anomalies (for any dimensionality, for both Schrodinger and Dirac/Weyl Hamiltonians and for either continuous or lattice (tight-binding) models) can always be written as global fluxes of certain generalized current densities Jg. In continuous nonrelativistic models, these have the forms that had earlier been used by Chemists, while for Dirac/Weyl or other lattice models they have relativistic forms only recently worked out. Examples are provided where such non-Hermiticities have a direct physical significance (for both conventional and topological materials). In all examples considered, these non-Hermitian boundary terms turn out to be quantized, the quantization being either of conventional or of a topological (Quantum Hall Effect (QHE))-type. The latter claim is substantiated through application to a simple QHE arrangement (2D Landau system in an external in-plane electric field), where some particular Jg is related to the well-known edge currents. The non-Hermitian terms play a subtle role on Berry curvatures in solids and seem to be crucial for the consistent application of the Modern Theories of Polarization and Orbital Magnetization. It is emphasized that the above systems can be closed (in multiply-connected space, so that the boundaries disappear, but the non-Hermiticity remains), a case in non-Hermitian physics that has not been discussed. A mapping between the above non-Hermiticity and the many recent available results in tight-binding Solid State models will lead to enhanced understanding of quantum behavior at the most fundamental level.