Robustness of Majorana edge modes and topological order: exact results for the symmetric interacting Kitaev chain with disorder
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Published version
Author(s)
McGinley, Max
Knolle, Johannes
Nunnenkamp, Andreas
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We investigate the robustness of Majorana edge modes under disorder and interactions. We exploit a recently found mapping of the interacting Kitaev chain in the symmetric region (μ=0, t=Δ) to free fermions. Extending the exact solution to the disordered case allows us to calculate analytically the topological phase boundary for all interaction and disorder strengths, which has been thought to be only accessible numerically. We discover a regime in which moderate disorder in the interaction matrix elements enhances topological order well into the strongly interacting regime U>t. We also derive the explicit form of the many-body Majorana edge wave function, revealing how it is dressed by many-particle fluctuations from interactions. The qualitative features of our analytical results are valid beyond the fine-tuned integrable point, as expected from the robustness of topological order and as corroborated here by an exact diagonalization study of small systems.
Date Issued
2017-12-15
Date Acceptance
2017-11-08
Citation
Physical Review B, 2017, 96 (24)
ISSN
2469-9950
Publisher
American Physical Society
Journal / Book Title
Physical Review B
Volume
96
Issue
24
Copyright Statement
© 2017 American Physical Society.
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000418755100001&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Physics, Condensed Matter
Physics
SUPERCONDUCTOR
FERMIONS
STATE
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
241113
Date Publish Online
2017-12-27