Biorthogonal Majorana zero modes, ELC waves and soliton-fermion duality in non-Hermitian sl(2) affine Toda coupled to fermions

Abstract

We study a non-Hermitian (NH) sl(2) affine Toda model coupled to fermions through soliton theory techniques and the realizations of the pseudo-chiral and pseudo- Hermitian symmetries. The interplay of non-Hermiticity, integrability, nonlinearity, and topology significantly influence the formation and behavior of a continuum of bound state modes (CBM) and extended waves in the localized continuum (ELC). The non-Hermitian soliton-fermion duality, the complex scalar field topological charges and winding numbers in the spectral topology are uncovered. The biorthogonal Majorana zero modes, dual to the NH Toda solitons with topological charges $$ \frac{2}{\pi}\arg \left(z=\pm i\right)=\pm 1 $$ 2 π arg z = ± i = ± 1 , appear at the complex-energy point gap and are pinned at zero energy. The zero eigenvalue λ(z = ± i) = 0, besides being a zero mode, plays the role of exceptional points (EPs), and each EP separates a real eigenvalue $$ \mathcal{A} $$ A -symmetric and $$ \mathcal{A} $$ A -symmetry broken regimes for an antilinear symmetry $$ \mathcal{A}\in \left\{\mathcal{PT},{\gamma}_5\mathcal{PT}\right\} $$ A ∈ PT γ 5 PT . Our findings improve the understanding of exotic quantum states, but also paves the way for future research in harnessing non-Hermitian phenomena for topological quantum computation, as well as the exploration of integrability and NH solitons in the theory of topological phases of matter.