{
  "id": "1203.1345",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2012-03-06T22:42:51.000Z",
  "updated": "2012-03-06T22:42:51.000Z",
  "title": "PT-symmetry breaking and universal chirality in a PT-symmetric ring",
  "authors": [
    "Derek D. Scott",
    "Yogesh N. Joglekar"
  ],
  "comment": "5 pages, 3 figures",
  "journal": "Phys. Rev. A 85, 062105 (2012)",
  "doi": "10.1103/PhysRevA.85.062105",
  "categories": [
    "quant-ph",
    "cond-mat.quant-gas"
  ],
  "abstract": "We investigate the properties of an $N$-site tight-binding lattice with periodic boundary condition (PBC) in the presence of a pair of gain and loss impurities $\\pm i\\gamma$, and two tunneling amplitudes $t_0,t_b$ that are constant along the two paths that connect them. We show that the parity and time-reversal ($\\mP\\mT$)-symmetric phase of the lattice with PBC is robust, insensitive to the distance between the impurities, and that the critical impurity strength for PT-symmetry breaking is given by $\\gamma_{PT}=|t_0-t_b|$. We study the time-evolution of a typical wave packet, initially localized on a single site, across the PT-symmetric phase boundary. We find that it acquires chirality with increasing $\\gamma$, and the chirality reaches a universal maximum value at the threshold, $\\gamma=\\gamma_{PT}$, irrespective of the initial location of the wave packet or the lattice parameters. Our results imply that PT-symmetry breaking on a lattice with PBC has consequences that have no counterpart in open chains.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2012-03-06T22:42:51.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "subjects": [
      "11.30.Er",
      "03.65.-w"
    ],
    "keywords": [
      "pt-symmetry breaking",
      "universal chirality",
      "pt-symmetric ring",
      "periodic boundary condition",
      "pt-symmetric phase boundary"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "journal article"
    ],
    "publication": {
      "publisher": "APS",
      "journal": "Physical Review A",
      "year": 2012,
      "month": "Jun",
      "volume": 85,
      "number": 6,
      "pages": "062105"
    },
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 5,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable",
      "adsabs": "2012PhRvA..85f2105S"
    }
  }
}