Non-Hermitian Linear Response Theory Verified by Tsinghua Cold-Atom Experiment

In 2020, Lei Pan, Xin Chen, Yu Chen, and Hui Zhai published a paper in Nature Physics in which they extended the linear response theory to the response of systems to non-Hermitian dissipative processes, thereby proposing the “non-Hermitian linear response theory.” This theory predicted that the response of strongly correlated critical states to dissipation would exhibit sub-exponential behavior, with the sub-exponential factor reflecting the critical exponents of the underlying critical state. Recently, an experiment led by Associate Professor Wenlan Chen at Tsinghua University confirmed this theoretical prediction in a one-dimensional cold-atom gas. The related paper was recently published in Nature Physics.