TY - JOUR
T1 - Topological Field Theory of Non-Hermitian Systems
AU - Kawabata, Kohei
AU - Shiozaki, Ken
AU - Ryu, Shinsei
N1 - Funding Information:
K. K. thanks Hosho Katsura, Ryohei Kobayashi, Yasunori Lee, and Masahito Ueda for helpful discussions. K. K. and K. S. thank Takumi Bessho for helpful discussions. K. K. is supported by KAKENHI Grant No. JP19J21927 from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). K. S. is supported by JST CREST Grant No. JPMJCR19T2 and JST PRESTO Grant No. JPMJPR18L4. S. R. is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. DMR-2001181 and by a Simons Investigator Grant from the Simons Foundation (Grant No. 566116).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Physical Society.
PY - 2021/5/28
Y1 - 2021/5/28
N2 - Non-Hermiticity gives rise to unique topological phases without Hermitian analogs. However, the effective field theory has yet to be established. Here, we develop a field-theoretical description of the intrinsic non-Hermitian topological phases. Because of the dissipative and nonequilibrium nature of non-Hermiticity, our theory is formulated solely in terms of spatial degrees of freedom, which contrasts with the conventional theory defined in spacetime. Our theory provides a universal understanding of non-Hermitian topological phenomena such as the unidirectional transport in one dimension and the chiral magnetic skin effect in three dimensions. Furthermore, it systematically predicts new physics; we illustrate this by revealing transport phenomena and skin effects in two dimensions induced by a perpendicular spatial texture. From the field-theoretical perspective, the non-Hermitian skin effect, i.e., the anomalous localization due to non-Hermiticity, is shown to be a signature of an anomaly.
AB - Non-Hermiticity gives rise to unique topological phases without Hermitian analogs. However, the effective field theory has yet to be established. Here, we develop a field-theoretical description of the intrinsic non-Hermitian topological phases. Because of the dissipative and nonequilibrium nature of non-Hermiticity, our theory is formulated solely in terms of spatial degrees of freedom, which contrasts with the conventional theory defined in spacetime. Our theory provides a universal understanding of non-Hermitian topological phenomena such as the unidirectional transport in one dimension and the chiral magnetic skin effect in three dimensions. Furthermore, it systematically predicts new physics; we illustrate this by revealing transport phenomena and skin effects in two dimensions induced by a perpendicular spatial texture. From the field-theoretical perspective, the non-Hermitian skin effect, i.e., the anomalous localization due to non-Hermiticity, is shown to be a signature of an anomaly.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85107318157&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85107318157&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.216405
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.216405
M3 - Article
C2 - 34114834
AN - SCOPUS:85107318157
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 126
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
IS - 21
M1 - 216405
ER -