The anomalous bulk-boundary correspondence in non-Hermitian systems featuring an intricate interplay between skin and boundary modes has attracted enormous theoretical and experimental attention. Still, in dimensions higher than one, this interplay remains much less understood. Here we provide insights from exact analytical solutions of a large class of models in any dimension 𝑑, with open boundaries in 𝑑_𝑐≤𝑑 directions, and by tracking their topological origin. Specifically, we show that amoeba theory accounting for the separation gaps of the bulk modes augmented with higher-dimensional generalizations of the biorthogonal polarization and the generalized Brillouin zone approaches accounting for the surface gaps of boundary modes provide a comprehensive understanding of these systems.

Recent observations of the fractional anomalous quantum Hall effect in moiré materials have reignited the interest in fractional Chern insulators (FCIs). The chiral limit in which analytic Landau-level-like single-particle states form an "ideal"Chern band and local interactions lead to Laughlin-like FCIs at 1/3 filling has been very useful for understanding these systems by relating them to the lowest Landau level. We show, however, that, even in the idealized chiral limit, a fluctuating quantum geometry is associated with strongly broken symmetries and a phenomenology very different from that of Landau levels. In particular, particle-hole symmetry is strongly violated and, e.g., at 2/3 filling an emergent interaction driven Fermi liquid state with no Landau level counterpart is energetically favored. In fact, even the exact Laughlin-like zero modes at 1/3 filling have a nonuniform density tracking the underlying quantum geometry. Switching to a Coulomb interaction, the ideal Chern band with electron filling of 1/4 features trivial charge density wave states. Moreover, applying a particle-hole transformation reveals that the ideal Chern band with hole filling of 3/4 supports a quantum anomalous Hall crystal with quantized Hall conductance of e2/h. These phenomena have no direct lowest Landau level counterpart.

Moiré materials provide a remarkably tunable platform for topological and strongly correlated quantum phases of matter. Very recently, the first Abelian fractional Chern insulators (FCIs) at zero magnetic field have been experimentally demonstrated, and it has been theoretically predicted that non-Abelian states with Majorana fermion excitations may be realized in the nearly dispersionless minibands of these systems. Here, we provide telltale evidence based on many-body exact diagonalization for the even more exotic possibility of moiré-based non-Abelian FCIs exhibiting Fibonacci parafermion excitations. In particular, we obtain low-energy quantum numbers, spectral flow, many-body Chern numbers, and entanglement spectra consistent with the Read–Rezayi parafermion phase in an exemplary moiré system with tunable quantum geometry. Our results hint towards the robustness of moiré-based parafermions and encourage the pursuit in moiré systems of these non-Abelian quasiparticles that are superior candidates for topological quantum computing.

The remarkable sensitivity of non-Hermitian systems has been extensively studied and stimulated ideas about developing new types of sensors. In this paper, we examine a chain of parametrically driven coupled resonators governed by the squeezed Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model. We emphasize the qualitative difference in sensor performance between configurations depending on bulk topology and boundary modes, specifically for detecting both on-site and non-Hermitian skin effect perturbations. Our analysis goes beyond the scenario of infinitesimal perturbations, extending to arbitrary perturbation strengths beyond the linear response regime. We stress the importance of optimizing the system's parameters to achieve quantum enhancement while avoiding fine-tuned regimes that could limit the practical applicability of this system for real-world quantum sensing.

Remarkable recent experiments have observed fractional quantum anomalous Hall effects at zero field and unusually high temperatures in twisted semiconductor bilayer tMoTe2, hence realizing the first genuine fractional Chern insulators. Intriguing observations in these experiments, such as the absence of integer Hall effects at twist angles where a fractional Hall effect is observed, do however remain unexplained. The experimental phase diagram as a function of twist angle remains to be established. By a comprehensive numerical study, including entanglement spectroscopy, we show that band mixing has large qualitative and quantitative effects on the energetics of competing states and their energy gaps throughout the twist angle range θ≤4. This lays the foundation for a detailed realistic study of a rich variety of strongly correlated moiré superlattices and an understanding of the phase diagram of these fascinating systems.

We show that the perturbation of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chain by a localized lossy defect leads to higher-order exceptional points (HOEP). Depending on the location of the defect, third- and fourth-order exceptional points (EP3 and EP4) appear in the space of Hamiltonian parameters. On the one hand, they arise due to the non-Abelian braiding properties of exceptional lines (EL) in parameter space. Namely, the HOEPs lie at intersections of mutually noncommuting ELs. On the other hand, we show that such special intersections happen due to the fact that the delocalization of edge states, induced by the non-Hermitian defect, hybridizes them with defect states. These can then coalesce together into an EP3. When the defect lies at the midpoint of the chain, a special symmetry of the full spectrum can lead to an EP4. In this way, our model illustrates the emergence of interesting non-Abelian topological properties in the multiband structure of non-Hermitian perturbations of topological phases.

Symmetry is one of the cornerstones of modern physics and has profound implications in different areas. In symmetry-protected topological systems, symmetries are responsible for protecting surface states, which are at the heart of the fascinating properties exhibited by these materials. When the symmetry protecting the edge mode is broken, the topological phase becomes trivial. By engineering losses that break the symmetry protecting a topological Hermitian phase, we show that a new genuinely non-Hermitian symmetry emerges, which protects and selects one of the boundary modes: the topological monomode. Moreover, the topology of the non-Hermitian system can be characterized by an effective Hermitian Hamiltonian in a higher dimension. To corroborate the theory, we experimentally investigated the non-Hermitian one- and two-dimensional SSH models using photonic lattices and observed dynamically generated monomodes in both cases. We classify the systems in terms of the (non-Hermitian) symmetries that are present and calculate the corresponding topological invariants.

Non-Hermitian matrices are ubiquitous in the description of nature ranging from classical dissipative systems, including optical, electrical, and mechanical metamaterials, to scattering of waves and open quantum many-body systems. Seminal line-gap and point-gap classifications of non-Hermitian systems using K-theory have deepened the understanding of many physical phenomena. However, ample systems remain beyond this description; reference points and lines do not in general distinguish whether multiple non-Hermitian bands exhibit intriguing exceptional points, spectral braids and crossings. To address this we consider two different notions: non-Hermitian band gaps and separation gaps that crucially encompass a broad class of multi-band scenarios, enabling the description of generic band structures with symmetries. With these concepts, we provide a unified and comprehensive classification of both gapped and nodal systems in the presence of physically relevant parity-time ( PT ) and pseudo-Hermitian symmetries using homotopy theory. This uncovers new stable topology stemming from both eigenvalues and wave functions, and remarkably also implies distinct fragile topological phases. In particular, we reveal different Abelian and non-Abelian phases in PT -symmetric systems, described by frame and braid topology. The corresponding invariants are robust to symmetry-preserving perturbations that do not induce (exceptional) degeneracy, and they also predict the deformation rules of nodal phases. We further demonstrate that spontaneous PT symmetry breaking is captured by Chern-Euler and Chern-Stiefel-Whitney descriptions, a fingerprint of unprecedented non-Hermitian topology previously overlooked. These results open the door for theoretical and experimental exploration of a rich variety of novel topological phenomena in a wide range of physical platforms.

Strongly interacting nonequilibrium systems are of great fundamental interest, yet their inherent complexity make them notoriously hard to analyze. We demonstrate that the dynamics of the Bose-Hubbard model, which by itself evades solvability, can be solved exactly at any interaction strength in the presence of loss tuned to a rate matching the hopping amplitude. Remarkably, the full solvability of the corresponding Liouvillian, and the integrability of the pertinent effective non-Hermitian Hamiltonian, survives the addition of disorder and generic boundary conditions. By analyzing the Bethe ansatz solutions we find that even weak interactions change the qualitative features of the system, leading to an intricate dynamical phase diagram featuring non-Hermitian Mott-skin effects, disorder induced localization, highly degenerate exceptional points, and a Bose glasslike phase of fragmented condensates. We discuss realistic implementations of this model with cold atoms.

Van der Waals heterostructures have recently emerged as an exciting platform for investigating the effects of strong electronic correlations, including various forms of magnetic or electrical orders. Here, we perform an unbiased exact diagonalization study of the effects of interactions on topological flat bands of twisted transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) at odd integer fillings. For hole-filling νh=1, we find that the Chern insulator phase, expected from interaction-induced spin-valley polarization of the bare bands, is quite fragile, and gives way to spontaneous multiferroic order - coexisting ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism, in the presence of long-range Coulomb repulsion. We provide a simple real-space picture to understand the phase diagram as a function of interaction range and strength. Our findings establish twisted TMDs as a novel and highly tunable platform for multiferroicity, and we outline a potential route towards electrical control of magnetism in the multiferroic phase.