Traveling Majorana solitons in a one-dimensional spin-orbit coupled Fermi superfluid

Abstract

We investigate traveling solitons of a one-dimensional spin-orbit coupled Fermi superfluid in both topologically trivial and non-trivial regimes by solving the static and time-dependent Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. We find a critical velocity $v_h$ for traveling solitons that is much smaller than the value predicted using the Landau criterion due to the presence of spin-orbit coupling, which strongly upshifts the energy level of the soliton-induced Andreev bound states towards the quasi-particle scattering continuum. Above $v_h$, our time-dependent simulations in harmonic traps indicate that traveling solitons decay by radiating sound waves. In the topological phase, we predict the existence of peculiar Majorana solitons, which host two Majorana fermions and feature a phase jump of $\pi$ across the soliton, irrespective of the velocity of travel. These unusual properties of Majorana solitons may open an alternative way to manipulate Majorana fermions for fault-tolerant topological quantum computations.

5 pages, 5 figures

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• Hinge solitons in three-dimensional second-order topological insulators
• Weyl solitons in three-dimensional optical lattices
• Accurate projective two-band description of topological superfluidity in spin-orbit-coupled Fermi gases
• Dynamical generation of solitons in one-dimensional Fermi superfluids with and without spin-orbit coupling
• Two types of dark solitons in a spin-orbit-coupled Fermi gas
• Coexistence of topological and nontopological Fermi-superfluid phases
• A universal pairing gap measurement proposal by dynamical excitations in 2D doped attractive Fermi-Hubbard model with spin-orbit coupling
• Finding the stable mechanism of ring solitons in two-dimensional Fermi superfluids
• Solitons in a class of interacting scalar field theories without $SO(2)$ invariance
• Motion of ferrodark solitons in trapped superfluids: spin corrections and emergent oscillators
• Swallow-tail dispersions of moving solitons in a two-dimensional fermionic superfluid