Anomalous scaling behavior of Green's function in critical skin effects
Phys. Rev. B 112, 174303 – Published 3 November, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/d5zc-p1sk
Abstract
We study the Green's functions in non-Hermitian systems that exhibit the critical non-Hermitian skin effect (critical NHSE) using a double-chain Hatano-Nelson model with interchain coupling . When , the system decomposes into two independent chains and, in this case, the Green's functions follow predictable patterns based on the generalized Brillouin zone (GBZ) theory. For small , there are two cases. In conventional regions with trivial open-boundary conditions spectral winding numbers, the interchain coupling induces a zigzag scaling structure in the Green's functions, which can be explained by the first-order perturbation theory. In anomalous regions with nontrivial winding numbers, the actual Green's functions and the GBZ-based predictions match in the bulk but diverge near the boundaries and this deviation turns out to be derived from the influence of the GBZ of the case. These results reveal the unique nonperturbative features of the critical NHSE and highlight the limitations of the GBZ theory in capturing the boundary effects of finite-size systems and thus emphasize the need to consider both bulk and boundary dynamics in such systems.