Majorana edge magnetization in the Kitaev honeycomb model

Abstract

We propose an approach to detect the peculiarity of Majorana fermions at the edges of Kitaev magnets. As is well known, a pair of Majorana edge modes is realized when a single complex fermion splits into real and imaginary parts which are, respectively, localized at the left and right edges of a sample magnet. Reflecting both of this peculiarity of the Majorana fermions and the ground-state degeneracy caused by the existence of the Majorana edge zero modes, the spins at the edges of the sample magnet are expected to behave as a peculiar "free" spin which exhibits a unidirectional magnetization without any transverse magnetization when applied a sufficiently weak external magnetic field. For the Kitaev honeycomb model, we obtain the expression of the Majorana edge magnetization by relying on standard techniques to diagonalize a free fermion Hamiltonian. The magnetization profile thus obtained indeed shows the expected behavior. We also elucidate the relation between the Majorana edge flat band and the bulk winding number from a weak topological point of view.

19 pages, 6 figures

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• Majorana-mediated spin transport without spin polarization in Kitaev quantum spin liquids
• Dynamical anyon generation in Kitaev honeycomb non-Abelian spin liquids
• Bulk-edge correspondence in two-dimensional topological semimetals: A transfer matrix study of antichiral edge modes
• Dissipationless Spin Current Generation in Kitaev's Chiral Spin Liquid
• Oriented propagation of magnetization due to chiral edge modes in Kitaev-type models
• Spin Transport in Quantum Spin-Orbital Liquids
• Topological Characterization of Kitaev Spin Nanoribbons with Ordered Flux Configurations