Accumulation of scale-free localized states induced by local non-Hermiticity

Abstract

The bulk states of Hermitian systems are believed insensitive to local Hermitian impurities or perturbations except for a few impurity-induced bound states. Thus, it is important to ask whether \textit{local} non-Hermiticity can cause drastic changes to the original Hermitian systems. Here we address this issue affirmatively and present exact solutions for the double chain model with local non-Hermitian terms possessing parity-time ($\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$) symmetry. Induced by the non-Hermiticity, the system undergoes a sequence of $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$-symmetry breakings, after which the eigenenergies appear in complex conjugate pairs. The associated extended bulk states then become scale-free localized and unidirectionally accumulated around the impurity. There exist mobility edges separating the residual extended states until a full scale-free localization of all eigenstates. Further increasing the non-Hermitity counter-intuitively brings the system to a $\mathcal{P}\mathcal{T}$-restoration regime with fully real spectra except for a pair of complex bound states. We demonstrate that the local non-Hermiticity generated scale-free localization is a general phenomenon and can even survive the quasiperiodic disorder. Our results indicate that the bulk properties of the original Hermitian system can be globally reshaped by local non-Hermiticity.

14 pages, 11 figures, published version in Phys. Rev. B as Editors' Suggestion

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• Hybrid scale-free skin effect in non-Hermitian systems: A transfer matrix approach
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