Unpaired Majorana fermions in quantum wires
Abstract
Certain one-dimensional Fermi systems have an energy gap in the bulk spectrum while boundary states are described by one Majorana operator per boundary point. A finite system of length possesses two ground states with an energy difference proportional to and different fermionic parities. Such systems can be used as qubits since they are intrinsically immune to decoherence. The property of a system to have boundary Majorana fermions is expressed as a condition on the bulk electron spectrum. The condition is satisfied in the presence of an arbitrary small energy gap induced by proximity of a 3-dimensional p-wave superconductor, provided that the normal spectrum has an odd number of Fermi points in each half of the Brillouin zone (each spin component counts separately).
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0010440,
title = {Unpaired Majorana fermions in quantum wires},
author = {Alexei Kitaev},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0010440},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
16 pages, 5 figures, Latex and epsf, to be included in the proceedings of the Mesoscopic And Strongly Correlated Electron Systems conference (9-16 July 2000, Chernogolovka, Moscow Region, Russia), one reference added