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An Index Theorem for the Majorana Zero Modes in Chiral P-Wave Superconductors

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2007-07-25 v1 Superconductivity

Abstract

We show that the Majorana fermion zero modes in the cores of odd winding number vortices of a 2D px+ipyp_x+ip_y-paired superconductor is due to an index theorem. This theorem is analogous to that proven by Jackiw and Rebbi for the existence of localized Dirac fermion zero modes on the mass domain walls of a 1D Dirac theory. The important difference is that, in our case, the theorem is proven for a two component fermion theory where the first and second components are related by parity reversal and hermitian conjugation.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0609556,
  title  = {An Index Theorem for the Majorana Zero Modes in Chiral P-Wave Superconductors},
  author = {Sumanta Tewari and S. Das Sarma and Dung-Hai Lee},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0609556},
  year   = {2007}
}