Constraints of internal symmetry on the non-Hermitian skin effect and bidirectional skin effect under the action of the Hermitian conjugate of time-reversal symmetry

Abstract

Non-Hermitian skin effect is a basic phenomenon in non-Hermitian system, which means that an extensive number of eigenstates can be localized at the boundary. In this Letter, we systematically investigate the constraints from all internal symmetries on the non-Hermitian skin effect in arbitrary dimensions. By adopting the powerful Amoeba formulation, we build a generic correspondence between the various internal symmetries and the behavior of the non-Hermitian skin effect. Notably, we find that, for non-Hermitian systems with the time-reversal$^\dagger$ symmetry, the eigenstates can simultaneously localize at opposite boundaries, which is beyond the Amoeba formulation, and we dub the phenomenon bidirectional skin effect. Our work provides an overall perspective from the internal symmetry to the non-Hermitian skin effect.