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From solitons to Majorana bound states in a one-dimensional interacting model

TYPECondensed Matter Seminar
Speaker:Luis Seabra
Affiliation:Technion
Date:25.03.2014
Time:14:30
Location:Lidow Nathan Rosen (300)
Abstract:The effects of interactions on topological systems is one of the most active research topics in condensed matter physics. Here, we investigate the Creutz ladder model, a one-dimensional fermionic system which supports zero-energy solitonic modes locked to open ends. Augmenting the model with induced superconducting pairing leads either to a topological superconductor with edge Majorana bound states, or to a trivial superconductor with edge chiral bound states. We establish the stability of these phases in the presence of Hubbard repulsive interactions with matrix-product-state DMRG calculations and mean-field theory. While interactions leave the Majorana states intact, the edge chiral states are removed, revealing another topologically non-trivial phase.