2016/01/31 by Pieter W. Claeys, Stijn De Baerdemacker, Dimitri Van Neck · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · Mathematics · #cond-mat.str-el #math-ph #math.MP #nlin.SI
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevb.93.220503
published as Phys. Rev. B 93, 220503 (2016) · 7 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2016/06/09 · arxiv updated 2016/06/15
We study a topological superconductor capable of exchanging particles with an environment. This additional interaction breaks particle-number symmetry and can be modelled by means of an integrable Hamiltonian, building on the class of Richardson-Gaudin pairing models. The isolated system supports zero-energy modes at a topological phase transition, which disappear when allowing for particle exchange with an environment. However, it is shown from the exact solution that these still play an important role in system-environment particle exchange, which can be observed through resonances in low-energy and -momentum level occupations. These fluctuations signal topologically protected Read-Green points and cannot be observed within traditional mean-field theory.