2010/02/28 by M. Wimmer, A. R. Akhmerov, M. V. Medvedyeva +2 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.mes-hall
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.105.046803
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 046803 (2010) · 8 pages, 7 figures; the appendices are included as supplemental material in the published version
arxiv created 2011/09/24 · arxiv updated 2013/07/09
Vortices in two-dimensional superconductors with broken time-reversal and spin-rotation symmetry can bind states at zero excitation energy. These socalled Majorana bound states transform a thermal insulator into a thermal metal and may be used to encode topologically protected qubits. We identify an alternative mechanism for the formation of Majorana bound states, akin to the way in which Shockley states are formed on metal surfaces: An atomic-scale electrostatic line defect can have a pair of Majorana bound states at the end points. The Shockley mechanism explains the appearance of a thermal metal in vortex-free lattice models of chiral p-wave superconductors and (unlike the vortex mechanism) is also operative in the topologically trivial phase.