Topological states in normal and superconducting p-wave chains

DOI10.1016/J.PHYSLETA.2014.09.022MaRDI QIDQ480276zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Mucio A. Continentino, Heron Caldas, David Nozadze, Nandini Trivedi

Publication date 8 December 2014

Published in Physics Letters. A (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1405.4183

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Statistical mechanics of superconductors (82D55)

Abstract: We study a two-band model of fermions in a 1d chain with an antisymmetric hybridization that breaks inversion symmetry. We find that for certain values of its parameters, the $sp$-chain maps formally into a $p$-wave superconducting chain, the archetypical 1d system exhibiting Majorana fermions. The eigenspectra, including the existence of zero energy modes in the topological phase, agree for both models. The end states too share several similarities in both models, such as the behavior of the localization length, the non-trivial topological index and robustness to disorder. However, we show by mapping the $s$- and $p$- fermions to two copies of Majoranas, that the excitations in the ends of a finite $sp$ chain are indeed conventional fermions though endowed with protected topological properties. Our results are obtained by a scattering approach in a semi-infinite chain with an edge defect treated within the $T$-matrix approximation. We augment the analytical results with exact numerical diagonalization that allow us to extend our results to arbitrary parameters and also to disordered systems.

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Cited in

(9)

• Induced p-wave superconductivity without spin-orbit interactions
• Topological field theory for p-wave superconductors
• Topological mid-gap states of \(p_x + i p_y\) topological superconductor with vortex square superlattice
• Majorana states near an impurity in the Kitaev infinite and semi-infinite model
• Characterizations of topological superconductors: Chern numbers, edge states and Majorana zero modes
• Classical impurities and boundary Majorana zero modes in quantum chains
• Chiral \(p\)-wave superconducting states in mesoscopic noncircular systems at zero external magnetic field
• Exactly solvable chain of interacting electrons with correlated hopping and pairing
• The 1D Ising model and the topological phase of the Kitaev chain

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