Topological edge-states of the PT-symmetric Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model: An effective two-state description

TL;DR

This paper investigates the topological edge states in a PT-symmetric extension of the SSH model, providing an effective two-state analytical framework that accurately predicts PT-symmetry breaking points, validated by numerical results.

Contribution

It introduces a novel two-state analytical model for PT-symmetric SSH edge states, enhancing understanding of their topological and symmetry-breaking properties.

Findings

Effective two-state model accurately predicts PT-symmetry breaking points.

Topologically protected edge states are characterized in the PT-symmetric SSH model.

Numerical results confirm analytical predictions.

Abstract

We consider the non-Hermitian, parity-time (PT) symmetric extensions of the one-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH) model in the topological non-trivial configuration. We study the properties of the topologically protected edge states, and develop an effective two-state analytical description of the system that accurately predicts the PT-symmetry breaking point for the edge states. We verify our analytical results by exact numerical calculations.