Real Spectra in Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians Having<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mi mathvariant="bold-script">P</mml:mi><mml:mi mathvariant="bold-script">T</mml:mi></mml:math>Symmetry

Abstract

The condition of self-adjointness ensures that the eigenvalues of a Hamiltonian are real and bounded below. Replacing this condition by the weaker condition of $\mathrm{PT}$ symmetry, one obtains new infinite classes of complex Hamiltonians whose spectra are also real and positive. These $\mathrm{PT}$ symmetric theories may be viewed as analytic continuations of conventional theories from real to complex phase space. This paper describes the unusual classical and quantum properties of these theories.