Duality in complex sine-Gordon theory

New aspects of the complex sine-Gordon theory are addressed through the reformulation of the theory in terms of the gauged Wess-Zumino-Witten action. A dual transformation between the theory for the coupling constant β > 0 and the theory for β < 0 is given which agrees with the Krammers-Wannier duality in the context of perturbed conformal field theory. The Bäcklund transform and the nonlinear superposition rule for the complex sine-Gordon theory are presented, from which exact solutions, solitons and breathers with U(1) charge, are derived. We clarify the topological and nontopological nature of neutral and charged solitons respectively, and discuss the duality between the vector and the axial U(1) charges.