$\mathscr{PT}$-symmetric hydrodynamics of odd viscous liquids and their oscillator counterparts

Abstract

Odd viscosity, the nondissipative part of the viscous response of a time-reversal-broken fluid, is notoriously difficult to measure precisely because it does no work. Here we show that parity-time ($\mathscr{PT}$) symmetry, familiar from non-Hermitian optics, converts this elusiveness into a measurement principle. The odd Navier-Stokes equations, that include the nonlinear inertial terms, are $\mathscr{PT}$-symmetric, follow from a Lagrangian, and linearize to a Schr\"odinger equation in which the odd viscosity plays the role of Planck's constant; potential vorticity obeys a generalized Ertel conservation law. A probe trapped in an odd liquid realizes a pair of oscillators coupled by odd friction, and supplying balanced loss and gain drives a twofold $\mathscr{PT}$ transition whose exceptional point and Rabi sidebands locate the odd viscosity with square-root-enhanced sensitivity. Upon quantization the spectrum is of Fock-Darwin form, and the dissipative pair exhibits a Liouvillian exceptional point separating linear from exponential heating. These results furnish mechanical, stochastic, and spectroscopic protocols for measuring odd transport coefficients in classical and quantum fluids.