The abbreviation '+ h.c.' stands for 'plus the Hermitian Conjugate'.
Notes on verification
Multiple independent physics sources (ScienceDirect, PRL style guide, Quantum Diaries, ResearchGate) confirm the standard notation meaning. [tier=gold indep_score=0.925 clusters=4 claim_tier=everyday]
Sources
- + h.c. (wikipedia)
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/mathematics/hermitian-conjugate (corroboration)
- https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_hc_term_that_comes_along_with_hopping_term_t_in_the_single_band_Hubbard_model_of_RVB (corroboration)
- https://www.quantumdiaries.org/2011/06/26/cern-mug-summarizes-standard-model-but-is-off-by-a-factor-of-2/ (corroboration)
- https://journals.aps.org/prl/authors/general-notation-terminology (corroboration)