Abstract

A unique feature of non-Hermitian systems is the skin effect, which is the extreme sensitivity to the boundary conditions. Here, we reveal that the skin effect originates from intrinsic non-Hermitian topology. Such a topological origin not merely explains the universal feature of the known skin effect, but also leads to new types of the skin effects-symmetry-protected skin effects. In particular, we discover the Z_{2} skin effect protected by time-reversal symmetry. On the basis of topological classification, we also discuss possible other skin effects in arbitrary dimensions. Our work provides a unified understanding about the bulk-boundary correspondence and the skin effects in non-Hermitian systems.

Keywords

Hermitian matrixPhysicsTheoretical physicsTopology (electrical circuits)Quantum mechanicsMathematicsCombinatorics

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Publication Info

Year
2020
Type
article
Volume
124
Issue
8
Pages
086801-086801
Citations
1102
Access
Closed

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Cite This

Nobuyuki Ōkuma, Kohei Kawabata, Ken Shiozaki et al. (2020). Topological Origin of Non-Hermitian Skin Effects. Physical Review Letters , 124 (8) , 086801-086801. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.124.086801

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DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.124.086801