Hermitian bipartite models are characterized by the presence of chiral symmetry and by Lieb's theorem, which derives the number of zero-energy flat bands of the model from the imbalance of sites between its two sublattices. Here, we introduce a class of non-Hermitian models with an arbitrary number of sublattices connected in a unidirectional and cyclical way and show that the number of zero-energy flat bands of these models can be found from a generalized version of Lieb's theorem, in what regards its application to noninteracting tight-binding models, involving the imbalance between each sublattice and the sublattice of lowest dimension. Furthermore, these models are also shown to obey a generalized chiral symmetry, of the type found in the context of certain clock or parafermionic systems. The main results are illustrated with a simple toy model and possible realizations in different platforms of the models introduced here are discussed.

• Received 23 May 2022
• Revised 28 October 2022
• Accepted 15 November 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.205146