Physical Review Letters
Real Spectra in Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians Having P T Symmetry
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Abstract
The condition of self-adjointness ensures that the eigenvalues of a Hamiltonian are real and bounded below. Replacing this condition by the weaker condition of $\mathrm{PT}$ symmetry, one obtains new infinite classes of complex Hamiltonians whose spectra are also real and positive. These $\mathrm{PT}$ symmetric theories may be viewed as analytic continuations of conventional theories from real to complex phase space. This paper describes the unusual classical and quantum properties of these theories.
DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.80.5243 · Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)