Parity-time-symmetric topological superconductor

Abstract

We investigate a topological superconducting wire with balanced gain and loss that is effectively described by the non-Hermitian Kitaev/Majorana chain with parity-time symmetry. This system is shown to possess two distinct types of unconventional edge modes, those with complex energies and nonorthogonal Majorana zero modes. The latter edge modes cause nonlocal particle transport with currents that are localized at the edges and absent in the bulk. This anomalous particle transport results from the interplay between parity-time symmetry (non-Hermiticity) and topological superconductivity.