Disorder effects on thermal transport on the surface of topological superconductors by the self-consistent Born approximation

Ryota Nakai and Kentaro Nomura
Phys. Rev. B 89, 064503 – Published 12 February 2014

Abstract

We have studied the longitudinal thermal conductivity of the surface of a three-dimensional time-reversal-symmetric topological superconductor with random disorder. Majorana fermions on the surface of topological superconductors have a response to the gravitational field, which is realized as a thermal response to the temperature gradient inside of the material. Because of the presence of both time-reversal symmetry and particle-hole symmetry, disorder on the surface emerges in the Hamiltonian only as spatial deformations of the pair potential. In terms of the gravitational field, the disorder results in spatial fluctuations of the metric. We consider disorder effects on the thermal conductivity perturbatively within the self-consistent Born approximation. The density of states is calculated with the Green's function technique and the thermal conductivity of the surface modes is derived through the electronic conductivity using Wiedemann-Franz law for the Majorana fermions.

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  • Received 27 November 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.89.064503

©2014 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Ryota Nakai1,* and Kentaro Nomura2

  • 1WPI-Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR), Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan
  • 2Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan

  • *rnakai@wpi-aimr.tohoku.ac.jp

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Issue

Vol. 89, Iss. 6 — 1 February 2014

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