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

Some PT-symmetric non-hermitean Hamiltonians have only real eigenvalues. There is numerical evidence that the associated PT-invariant energy eigenstates satisfy an unconventional completeness relation. An ad hoc scalar product among the states is positive definite only if a recently introduced `charge operator' is included in its definition. A simple derivation of the conjectured completeness and orthonormality relations is given. It exploits the fact that PT-symmetry provide...

This paper proposes to broaden the canonical formulation of quantum mechanics. Ordinarily, one imposes the condition $H^\dagger=H$ on the Hamiltonian, where $\dagger$ represents the mathematical operation of complex conjugation and matrix transposition. This conventional Hermiticity condition is sufficient to ensure that the Hamiltonian $H$ has a real spectrum. However, replacing this mathematical condition by the weaker and more physical requirement $H^\ddag=H$, where $\ddag...

Two alternative scenarios are shown possible in Quantum Mechanics working with non-Hermitian $PT-$symmetric form of observables. While, usually, people assume that $P$ is a self-adjoint indefinite metric in Hilbert space (and that their $P-$pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians $H$ possess the real spectra etc), we propose to relax the constraint $P=P^\dagger$ as redundant. Non-Hermitian triplet of coupled square wells is chosen for illustration purposes. Its solutions are constructe...

In recent reports, suggestions have been put forward to the effect that parity and time-reversal (PT) symmetry in quantum mechanics is incompatible with causality. It is shown here, in contrast, that PT-symmetric quantum mechanics is fully consistent with standard quantum mechanics. This follows from the surprising fact that the much-discussed metric operator on Hilbert space is not physically observable. In particular, for closed quantum systems in finite dimensions there is...

In this paper we develop a discussion about PT Symmetric Quantum Mechanics, working with basics elements of this theory. In a simple case of two body system, we developed the Quantum Brachistochrone problem. Comparing the results obtained through the PT Symmetric Quantum Mechanics with that ones obtained using the standard formalism, we conclude that this new approach is not able to reveal any new effect.

Quantum physics is generally concerned with real eigenvalues due to the unitarity of time evolution. With the introduction of $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetry, a widely accepted consensus is that, even if the Hamiltonian of the system is not Hermitian, the eigenvalues can still be pure real under specific symmetry. Hence, great enthusiasm has been devoted to exploring the eigenvalue problem of non-Hermitian systems. In this work, from a distinct perspective, we demonstrate that real e...

We review some recent results of the so-called quasi-hermitian quantum mechanics, with particular focus on the quantum dynamics both in the Schr\"odinger and in the Heisenberg representations. The role of Krein spaces is also discussed.

In their Erratum [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 92}, 119902 (2004), quant-ph/0208076], written in reaction to [quant-ph/0310164], Bender, Brody and Jones propose a revised definition for a physical observable in PT-symmetric quantum mechanics. We show that although this definition avoids the dynamical inconsistency revealed in quant-ph/0310164, it is still not a physically viable definition. In particular, we point out that a general proof that this definition is consistent with the ...

We prove that in finite dimensions, a Parity-Time (PT)-symmetric Hamiltonian is necessarily pseudo-Hermitian regardless of whether it is diagonalizable or not. This result is different from Mostafazadeh's, which requires the Hamiltonian to be diagonalizable. PT-symmetry breaking often occurs at exceptional points where the Hamiltonian is not diagonalizable. Our result implies that PT-symmetry breaking is equivalent to the onset of instabilities of pseudo-Hermitian systems, wh...

This paper builds on our earlier proposal for construction of a positive inner product for pseudo-Hermitian Hamiltonians and we give several examples to clarify our method. We show through the example of the harmonic oscillator how our construction applies equally well to Hermitian Hamiltonians which form a subset of pseudo-Hermitian systems. For finite dimensional pseudo-Hermitian matrix Hamiltonians we construct the positive inner product (in the case of $2\times 2$ matrice...