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Calendar of Physics Talks Vienna
| MAKING SENSE OF NON-HERMITIAN HAMILTONIANS |
| Speaker: | Prof. Carl M. Bender (Washington University in St. Louis) |
| Abstract: | The average quantum physicist on the street believes that a quantum-mechanical Hamiltonian must be Dirac Hermitian in order to guarantee that the energy eigenvalues are real and that time evolution is unitary. However, the Hamiltonian H=p^2+ix^3, which is obviously not Dirac Hermitian, has a real positive discrete spectrum and generates unitary time evolution, and thus it defines a fully consistent and physical quantum theory! Evidently, the axiom of Dirac Hermiticity is too restrictive. While H=p^2+ix^3 is not Dirac Hermitian, it is PT symmetric; that is, invariant under combined space reflection P and time reversal T. The quantum mechanics defined by a PT-symmetric Hamiltonian is a complex generalization of ordinary quantum mechanics. When quantum mechanics is extended into the complex domain, new kinds of theories having strange and remarkable properties emerge. |
| Date: | Fri, 15.07.2011 |
| Time: | 14:00 |
| Duration: | 60 min |
| Location: | Seminar room 136, Freihaus, 10th floor (yellow section), Wiedner Hauptstraße 8-10 |
| Contact: | Stefan Rotter |
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