Observation of Fast Evolution in Parity-Time-Symmetric System

TL;DR

This paper reports the experimental observation of extremely fast evolution in a PT-symmetric quantum system using NMR, confirming theoretical predictions that such systems can evolve faster than traditional Hermitian systems, approaching zero evolution time.

Contribution

First experimental demonstration of rapid evolution in a PT-symmetric Hamiltonian system, validating theoretical predictions about minimal evolution time.

Findings

PT-symmetric Hamiltonian enables faster evolution than Hermitian systems

Experimental verification in NMR system

Evolution time can approach zero

Abstract

To find and realize the optimal evolution between two states is significant both in theory and application. In quantum mechanics, the minimal evolution is bounded by the gap between the largest and smallest eigenvalue of the Hamiltonian. In the parity-time-symmetric(PT-symmetric) Hamiltonian theory, it was predicted that the optimized evolution time can be reduced drastically comparing to the bound in the Hermitian case, and can become even zero. In this Letter, we report the experimental observation of the fast evolution of a PT-symmetric Hamiltonian in an nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) quantum system. The experimental results demonstrate that the PT-symmetric Hamiltonian can indeed evolve much faster than that in a quantum system, and time it takes can be arbitrary close to zero.