Vortices in two-dimensional superconductors with broken time-reversal and spin-rotation symmetry can bind states at zero excitation energy. These so-called Majorana bound states transform a thermal insulator into a thermal metal and may be used to encode topologically protected qubits. We identify an alternative mechanism for the formation of Majorana bound states, akin to the way in which Shockley states are formed on metal surfaces: An electrostatic line defect can have a pair of Majorana bound states at the end points. The Shockley mechanism explains the appearance of a thermal metal in vortex-free lattice models of chiral $p$-wave superconductors and (unlike the vortex mechanism) is also operative in the topologically trivial phase.

• Received 18 February 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.105.046803