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Driving topological phases by spatially inhomogeneous pairing centers

Wojciech Brzezicki, Andrzej M. Oleś, and Mario Cuoco
Phys. Rev. B 95, 140506(R) – Published 25 April 2017
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Abstract

We investigate the effect of periodic and disordered distributions of pairing centers in a one-dimensional itinerant system to obtain the microscopic conditions required to achieve an end Majorana mode and the topological phase diagram. Remarkably, the topological invariant can be generally expressed in terms of the physical parameters for any pairing center configuration. Such a fundamental relation allows us to unveil hidden local symmetries and to identify trajectories in the parameter space that preserve the nontrivial topological character of the ground state. We identify the phase diagram with topologically nontrivial domains where Majorana modes are completely unaffected by the spatial distribution of the pairing centers. These results are general and apply to several systems where inhomogeneous perturbations generate stable Majorana modes.

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  • Received 24 January 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.95.140506

©2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Wojciech Brzezicki1,2, Andrzej M. Oleś3,4, and Mario Cuoco1,2

  • 1CNR-SPIN, IT-84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy
  • 2Dipartimento di Fisica “E. R. Caianiello”, Universitá degli Studi di Salerno, IT-84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy
  • 3Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstrasse 1, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
  • 4Marian Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, Prof. S. Łojasiewicza 11, PL-30348 Kraków, Poland

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Issue

Vol. 95, Iss. 14 — 1 April 2017

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