Quantum metric and wave packets at exceptional points in non-Hermitian systems

Abstract

The usual concepts of topological physics, such as the Berry curvature, are not always relevant for non-Hermitian systems. We show that another object, the quantum metric, which often plays a secondary role in Hermitian systems, becomes a crucial quantity near exceptional points in non-Hermitian systems, where it diverges in a way that fully controls the description of wave-packet trajectories. The quantum metric behavior is responsible for a constant acceleration with a fixed direction, and for a nonvanishing constant velocity with a controllable direction. Both contributions are independent of the wave-packet size.