Critical timescales for chiral state conversion and irreversibility
Phys. Rev. A 114, 042217 – Published 22 October, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/5w1p-sg68
Abstract
Non-Hermitian systems driven along slow parametric loops undergo nonadiabatic transitions whose outcome depends sensitively on the driving speed, yet no explicit formula has been available for the critical timescale at which these transitions develop. Using a Hamiltonian with circular parameter trajectories, we derive in closed form for nonencircling loops, phase-shifted loops, offset loops, and loops encircling exceptional points, where is a geometry-dependent growth factor and is the instability seed. This formula sharply separates the regime where the system remains in the averagely dominant eigenstate () from the superadiabatic regime where the instantaneous dominant eigenstate takes over (), resolving the apparent tension between the previous literature. We identify two competing seeds: a geometric Stokes multiplier and the finite-precision floor. When the geometric seed vanishes, precision alone governs the transition, yielding , linear in the number of digits in base (bits for ). For loops encircling an exceptional point, the Stokes seed only sets an intermediate plateau; the final transition is again seeded by the precision floor, and remains linear in . This provides a purely forward-evolution manifestation of precision-induced irreversibility [L. E. F. Foa Torres, G. Pappas, V. Achilleos, and D. Bautista Avilés, Precision-induced irreversibility in non-Hermitian systems, Phys. Rev. A 114, 012207 (2026)], demonstrating that the fundamental limit identified through echo protocols also controls the outcome of slow non-Hermitian dynamics without requiring time reversal. For PT-symmetric energy spectra, additionally determines the onset of chirality: the dynamics is nonchiral for and chiral for .