Exceptional point description of one-dimensional chiral topological superconductors/superfluids in BDI class

We show that certain singularities of the Hamiltonian in the complex wave vector space can be used to identify topological quantum phase transitions for $1D$ chiral topological superconductors/superfluids in the BDI class. These singularities fall into the category of the so-called exceptional points ($EP$'s) studied in the context of non-Hermitian Hamiltonians describing open quantum systems. We also propose a generic formula in terms of the properties of the $EP$'s to quantify the exact number of Majorana zero modes in a particular chiral topological superconducting phase, given the values of the parameters appearing in the Hamiltonian. This formula serves as an alternative to the familiar integer ($\mathbb{Z}$) winding number invariant characterizing topological superconductor/superfluid phases in the chiral BDI class.