Linear response theory of open systems with exceptional points

TL;DR

This paper develops a series expansion for the linear response of non-Hermitian systems with exceptional points, revealing how input-output configurations influence their spectral lineshapes and responses.

Contribution

It introduces a new series expansion approach for analyzing the linear response of non-Hermitian systems with exceptional points, highlighting the impact of input-output profiles on spectral lineshapes.

Findings

Response lineshape depends on input-output configuration.

Exceptional points can produce Lorentzian or super-Lorentzian responses.

The order of the exceptional point influences the response shape.

Abstract

Understanding the linear response of any system is the first step towards analyzing its linear and nonlinear dynamics, stability properties, as well as its behavior in the presence of noise. In non-Hermitian Hamiltonian systems, calculating the linear response is complicated due to the non-orthogonality of their eigenmodes, and the presence of exceptional points (EPs). Here, we derive a closer form series expansion of the resolvent associated with an arbitrary non-Hermitian system in terms of the ordinary and generalized eigenfunctions of the underlying Hamiltonian. This in turn reveals an interesting and previously overlocked feature of non-Hermitian systems, namely that their lineshape scaling is dictated by how the input (excitation) and output (collection) profiles are chosen. In particular, we demonstrate that a configuration with an EP of order $M$ can exhibit a Lorentzian response or a super-Lorentzian response of order $M_s$ with $M_s=2,3,\ldots,M$, depending on the choice of input and output channels.