(Avoided) crossings in the spectra of matrices with globally degenerate eigenvalues

Abstract

(Avoided) crossings are ubiquitous in physics and are connected to many physical phenomena such as hidden symmetries, the Berry phase, entanglement, Landau–Zener processes, the onset of chaos, etc. A pedagogical approach to cataloging (avoided) crossings has been proposed in the past, using matrices whose eigenvalues avoid or cross as a function of some parameter. The approach relies on the mathematical tool of the discriminant, which can be calculated from the characteristic polynomial of the matrix, and whose roots as a function of the parameter being varied yield the locations as well as degeneracies of the (avoided) crossings. In this article we consider matrices whose symmetries force two or more eigenvalues to be degenerate across the entire range of variation of the parameter of interest, thus leading to an identically vanishing discriminant. To show how this case can be handled systematically, we introduce a perturbation to the matrix and calculate the roots of the discriminant in the limit as the perturbation vanishes. We show that this approach correctly generates a nonzero ‘reduced’ discriminant that yields the locations and degeneracies of the (avoided) crossings. We illustrate our technique using the matrix Hamiltonian for benzene in Hückel theory, which has recently been discussed in the context of (avoided) crossings in its spectrum.