Interaction-induced non-Hermitian topological phases from a dynamical gauge field

Abstract: We present a minimal non-Hermitian model where a topologically nontrivial complex energy spectrum is induced by inter-particle interactions. Our model consists of a one-dimensional chain with a dynamical non-Hermitian gauge field with density dependence. The model is topologically trivial for a single particle system, but exhibits nontrivial non-Hermitian topology with a point gap when two or more particles are present in the system. We construct an effective doublon model to describe the nontrivial topology in the presence of two particles, which quantitatively agrees with the full interacting model. Our model can be realized by modulating hoppings of the Hatano-Nelson model; we provide a concrete Floquet protocol to realize the model in atomic and optical settings.