Zero-energy pinning from interactions in Majorana nanowires

Abstract

Majorana zero modes at the boundaries of topological superconductors are charge-neutral, an equal superposition of electrons and holes. This ideal situation is, however, hard to achieve in physical implementations, such as proximitised semiconducting nanowires of realistic length. In such systems Majorana overlaps are unavoidable and lead to their hybridisation into charged Bogoliubov quasiparticles of finite energy which, unlike true zero modes, are affected by electronic interactions. We here demonstrate that these interactions, particularly with bound charges in the dielectric surroundings, drastically change the non-interacting paradigm. Remarkably, interactions may completely suppress Majorana hybridisation around parity crossings, where the total charge in the nanowire changes. This effect, dubbed zero-energy pinning, stabilises Majoranas back to zero energy and charge, and leads to electronically incompressible parameter regions wherein Majoranas remain insensitive to local perturbations, despite their overlap.

9 pages, 5 figures, published version

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Tuning Topological Superconductivity in Phase-Controlled Josephson Junctions with Rashba and Dresselhaus Spin-Orbit Coupling
• Majorana Kramers pairs in Rashba double nanowires with interactions and disorder
• Conductance spectroscopy on Majorana wires and the inverse proximity effect
• Effects of the electrostatic environment on superlattice Majorana nanowires
• Influence of long-range interaction on Majorana zero modes
• Majorana phase-gate based on the geometric phase
• Manifestation of Majorana modes overlap in the Aharonov-Bohm effect
• Anomalous photon-assisted tunneling in periodically driven Majorana nanowires and BCS Charge Measurement
• Signatures of Topological Transitions in the Spin Susceptibility of Josephson Junctions
• Theory of Berry Singularity Markers: Diagnosing Topological Phase Transitions via Lock-In Tomography