General Aspects of PT-Symmetric and P-Self-Adjoint Quantum Theory in a Krein Space

Space of states of PT symmetrical quantum mechanics is examined. Requirement that eigenstates with different eigenvalues must be orthogonal leads to the conclusion that eigenfunctions belong to the space with an indefinite metric. The self consistent expressions for the probability amplitude and average value of operator are suggested. Further specification of space of state vectors yield the superselection rule, redefining notion of the superposition principle. The expressio...

Update: A time-independent $n\times n$ PT-symmetric (and symmetric) Hamiltonian is diagonalizable since it has all distinct real eigenvalues and the resulting diagonal matrix is a real symmetric matrix. The diagonalization results an isometry so there shouldn't be any issue with unitarity and unfortunately this very elementary mathematical fact somehow did not draw the authors' attention. However, PT-symmetric quantum mechanics is not out of trouble. For time-dependent PT-sym...

It is shown that the standard formulation of quantum mechanics in terms of Hermitian Hamiltonians is overly restrictive. A consistent physical theory of quantum mechanics can be built on a complex Hamiltonian that is not Hermitian but satisfies the less restrictive and more physical condition of space-time reflection symmetry (PT symmetry). Thus, there are infinitely many new Hamiltonians that one can construct to explain experimental data. One might expect that a quantum the...

During the recent developments of quantum theory it has been clarified that the observable quantities (like energy or position) may be represented by operators (with real spectra) which are manifestly non-Hermitian. The mathematical consistency of the resulting models of stable quantum systems requires a reconstruction of an alternative, amended, physical inner product of states. We point out the less known fact that for more than one observable the task is not always feasibl...

The overall principles of what is now widely known as PT-symmetric quantum mechanics are listed, explained and illustrated via a few examples. In particular, models based on an elementary local interaction V(x) are discussed as motivated by the naturally emergent possibility of an efficient regularization of an otherwise unacceptable presence of a strongly singular repulsive core in the origin. The emphasis is put on the constructive aspects of the models. Besides the overall...

The concept of C-symmetry originally appeared in PT-symmetric quantum mechanics is studied within the Krein spaces framework.

A diagonalizable non-Hermitian Hamiltonian having a real spectrum may be used to define a unitary quantum system, if one modifies the inner product of the Hilbert space properly. We give a comprehensive and essentially self-contained review of the basic ideas and techniques responsible for the recent developments in this subject. We provide a critical assessment of the role of the geometry of the Hilbert space in conventional quantum mechanics to reveal the basic physical pri...

We study the physical content of the PT-symmetric complex extension of quantum mechanics as proposed in Bender et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 5243 (1998) and 89, 270401 (2002), and show that as a fundamental probabilistic physical theory it is neither an alternative to nor an extension of ordinary quantum mechanics. We demonstrate that the definition of a physical observable given in the above papers is inconsistent with the dynamical aspect of the theory and offer a consistent ...

Two non-Hermitian PT-symmetric Hamiltonian systems are reconsidered by means of the algebraic method which was originally proposed for the pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonian systems rather than for the PT-symmetric ones. Compared with the way converting a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian to its Hermitian counterpart, this method has the merit that keeps the Hilbert space of the non-Hermitian PT-symmetric Hamiltonian unchanged. In order to give the positive definite inner product for the P...

Criteria are formulated both for the existence and for the non-existence of complex eigenvalues for a class of non self-adjoint operators in Hilbert space invarariant under a particular discrete symmetry. Applications to the PT-symmetric Schr\"odinger operators are discussed.