Odd-frequency pairing of interacting Majorana fermions – Z. Huang, P. Wölfle, A. V. Balatsky (2015)

Abstract

Majorana fermions are rising as a promising key component in quantum computation. Although the prevalent approach is to use a quadratic (i.e., noninteracting) Majorana Hamiltonian, when expressed in terms of Dirac fermions, generically the Hamiltonian involves interaction terms. Here we focus on the possible pair correlations in a simple model system. We study a model of Majorana fermions coupled to a boson mode and show that the anomalous correlator between different Majorana fermions, located at opposite ends of a topological wire, exhibits odd-frequency behavior. It is stabilized when the coupling strength g is above a critical value gc. We use both, conventional diagrammatic theory and a functional integral approach, to derive the gap equation, the critical temperature, the gap function, the critical coupling, and a Ginzburg-Landau theory that allows discussing a possible subleading admixture of even-frequency pairing.

Published

Physical Review B