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

We consider the non-Hermitian, parity -time-[(PT)-] symmetric extensions of the one-dimensional Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model in the topological nontrivial 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.