Frank Ernesto Quintela Rodríguez

arXiv2026

Non-Hermitian entropy production from fluctuation theorems

We develop a first-principles thermodynamic framework for non-Hermitian dynamics based on a post-selected version of the fluctuation theorem. This allows us to identify a quantity that remains positive throughout the non-Hermitian evolution and can be interpreted as the entropy production of the post-selected dynamics. We relate this quantity to previously proposed notions of non-Hermitian entropy and derive an associated second law. Furthermore, we establish a connection with information-theoretic quantities, in particular the Petz-Rényi divergences, and leverage this connection to derive upper and lower bounds. Finally, we decompose the entropy production into incoherent and coherent contributions, identifying distinctive features of the coherent term in the vicinity of exceptional points. We illustrate our results using a paradigmatic model of non-Hermitian evolution based on a two-level system.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Exceptional points in Gaussian channels: diffusion gauging and drift-governed spectrum

McDonald and Clerk [Phys.\ Rev.\ Research 5, 033107 (2023)] showed that for linear open quantum systems the Liouvillian spectrum is independent of the noise strength. We first make this noise-independence principle precise in continuous time for multimode bosonic Gaussian Markov semigroups: for Hurwitz drift, a time-independent Gaussian similarity fixed by the Lyapunov equation gauges away diffusion for all times, so eigenvalues and non-diagonalizability are controlled entirely by the drift, while diffusion determines steady states and the structure of eigenoperators. We then extend the same separation to discrete time for general stable multimode bosonic Gaussian channels: for any stable Gaussian channel, we construct an explicit Gaussian similarity transformation that gauges away diffusion at the level of the channel parametrization. We illustrate the method with a single-mode squeezed-reservoir Lindbladian and with a non-Markovian family of single-mode Gaussian channels, where the exceptional-point manifolds and the associated gauging covariances can be obtained analytically.

quant-ph↗