Symmetries and Invariants for Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians

We discuss Hamiltonian symmetries and invariants for quantum systems driven by non-Hermitian Hamiltonians. For time-independent Hermitian Hamiltonians, a unitary or antiunitary transformation A H A † that leaves the Hamiltonian H unchanged represents a symmetry of the Hamiltonian, which implies the commutativity [ H , A ] = 0 and, if A is linear and time-independent, a conservation law, namely the invariance of expectation values of A . For non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, H † comes into play as a distinct operator that complements H in generalized unitarity relations. The above description of symmetries has to be extended to include also A -pseudohermiticity relations of the form A H = H † A . A superoperator formulation of Hamiltonian symmetries is provided and exemplified for Hamiltonians of a particle moving in one-dimension considering the set of A operators that form Klein’s 4-group: parity, time-reversal, parity&time-reversal, and unity. The link between symmetry and conservation laws is discussed and shown to be richer and subtler for non-Hermitian than for Hermitian Hamiltonians.