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Abstract

Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, which effectively describe dissipative systems,
and analogue gravity models, which simulate properties of gravitational
objects, comprise seemingly different areas of current research. Here, we
investigate the interplay between the two by relating parity-time-symmetric
dissipative Weyl-type Hamiltonians to analogue Schwarzschild black holes
emitting Hawking radiation. We show that the exceptional points of these
Hamiltonians form tilted cones mimicking the behavior of the light cone of a
radially infalling observer approaching a black hole horizon. We further
investigate the presence of tunneling processes, reminiscent of those happening
in black holes, in a concrete example model. We interpret the non-trivial
result as the purely thermal contribution to analogue Hawking radiation in a
Schwarzschild black hole. Assuming that our particular Hamiltonian models a
photonic crystal of experimental relevance, we argue that the loss from the
latter in the form of thermal radiation can be interpreted as the blackbody
contribution to analogue black hole radiation when measuring at the exceptional
cone. As such, these systems are promising candidates for black hole analogue
models.