Exceptional-point-constrained locking of boundary-sensitive topological transitions in chiral non-Hermitian SSH-type lattices

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Wang, Huimin, Liu, Yanxin, Li, Zhijian, Xu, Zhihao
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Wang, Huimin
Liu, Yanxin
Li, Zhijian
Xu, Zhihao
author_facet Wang, Huimin
Liu, Yanxin
Li, Zhijian
Xu, Zhihao
contents Topological transitions in non-Hermitian systems are generally boundary sensitive: a point-gap winding transition under periodic boundary condition (PBC) and a non-Bloch bulk real-line-gap transition under open boundary condition (OBC) at $\mathrm{Re}(E)=0$ are governed by different spectra and therefore need not coincide. Here we show, for a class of chiral non-Hermitian Su--Schrieffer--Heeger (SSH)-type lattices, that these two criticalities can be locked by an exceptional-point-constrained (EP-constrained) parameter evolution. The key requirement is not the occurrence of isolated exceptional points, but the persistence of a zero-energy Bloch degeneracy along the entire sweep, which is generically exceptional in the non-Hermitian regime. In an analytically tractable limit of an extended non-Hermitian SSH chain, the EP-constrained manifolds and both transition boundaries are obtained in closed form, making the locking explicit. Away from this limit, numerical generalized-Brillouin-zone (GBZ) calculations confirm the correspondence for representative constrained sweeps, whereas unconstrained paths show that isolated exceptional points or Hermitian degeneracies do not enforce locking. We further verify the mechanism in a spinful four-band extension with branch-resolved GBZs, including strongly branch-imbalanced regimes. These results establish a path-dependent diagnostic principle: along EP-constrained sweeps in this SSH-type class, changes in PBC point-gap winding can indicate OBC non-Bloch bulk real-line-gap transitions and the corresponding changes in zero-energy boundary modes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_25451
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Exceptional-point-constrained locking of boundary-sensitive topological transitions in chiral non-Hermitian SSH-type lattices
Wang, Huimin
Liu, Yanxin
Li, Zhijian
Xu, Zhihao
Optics
Quantum Physics
Topological transitions in non-Hermitian systems are generally boundary sensitive: a point-gap winding transition under periodic boundary condition (PBC) and a non-Bloch bulk real-line-gap transition under open boundary condition (OBC) at $\mathrm{Re}(E)=0$ are governed by different spectra and therefore need not coincide. Here we show, for a class of chiral non-Hermitian Su--Schrieffer--Heeger (SSH)-type lattices, that these two criticalities can be locked by an exceptional-point-constrained (EP-constrained) parameter evolution. The key requirement is not the occurrence of isolated exceptional points, but the persistence of a zero-energy Bloch degeneracy along the entire sweep, which is generically exceptional in the non-Hermitian regime. In an analytically tractable limit of an extended non-Hermitian SSH chain, the EP-constrained manifolds and both transition boundaries are obtained in closed form, making the locking explicit. Away from this limit, numerical generalized-Brillouin-zone (GBZ) calculations confirm the correspondence for representative constrained sweeps, whereas unconstrained paths show that isolated exceptional points or Hermitian degeneracies do not enforce locking. We further verify the mechanism in a spinful four-band extension with branch-resolved GBZs, including strongly branch-imbalanced regimes. These results establish a path-dependent diagnostic principle: along EP-constrained sweeps in this SSH-type class, changes in PBC point-gap winding can indicate OBC non-Bloch bulk real-line-gap transitions and the corresponding changes in zero-energy boundary modes.
title Exceptional-point-constrained locking of boundary-sensitive topological transitions in chiral non-Hermitian SSH-type lattices
topic Optics
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.25451