Many-body non-Hermitian skin effect at finite temperatures

In this study, we investigate the many-body non-Hermitian skin effect at finite temperatures in the thermodynamic limit. Our findings indicate an interesting correspondence between the non-Hermitian skin effect and a linear electric potential effect in this case. This correspondence leads to a unique distribution in non-Hermitian systems; particles in these many-body non-Hermitian systems do not inhabit the energy eigenstates of their single-body counterparts. As a result, the many-body non-Hermitian skin effect is significantly different from the single-body non-Hermitian skin effect. Specifically, for fermionic systems the non-Hermitian skin effect disrupts the original phase, leading to a real-space Fermi surface. For bosonic systems, it can direct bosons to condense in corners at a decay rate that surpasses exponential, even at high temperatures. It also triggers a remarkable phase transition, resulting in spontaneous U(1) symmetry breaking. Uniquely, this does not generate a Goldstone mode, presenting a deviation from traditional expectations as per the Goldstone theorem. © 2023 American Physical Society.