Topological superconductor

A topological superconductor is a gapped paired-fermion phase supporting protected boundary Majorana modes.

A quadratic fermion Hamiltonian is bilinear in creation and annihilation operators. In a Majorana basis it is determined, up to a constant, by a real antisymmetric matrix.

For distinct fermionic orbitals obeying the full canonical anticommutation relations, fix the Fock state order $|11⟩=a^{†}{b}^{†}|0⟩$. With real $\epsilon ,\Delta >0$, the even-fermion parity matrix is $\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& -\Delta \\ -\Delta & 2\epsilon \end{array}\right)$, since $ab|11⟩=-|0⟩$. The two odd-fermion parity energy eigenvalues are both $\epsilon$. The even-fermion parity energy eigenvalues are $\epsilon \pm \sqrt{{\epsilon }^2+{\Delta }^2}$. This finite model isolates the relative sign and constant shift required in a fermionic Bogoliubov transformation without any momentum sum or particle-hole doubling factor.

A Bogoliubov--de Gennes Hamiltonian acts on a Nambu particle-hole spinor and describes quadratic fermion hopping and pairing.

Particle-hole symmetry relates $H_{\mathrm{BdG}}(k)$ to $-H_{\mathrm{BdG}}^{\ast }(-k)$. Consequently every energy $E$ at momentum $k$ is paired with energy $-E$ at momentum $-k$.

A Majorana fermion operator is self-adjoint and obeys $\{c_j,c_k\}=2{\delta }_{jk}$.

Two distinct Majorana fermion operators with $\{{\gamma }_i,{\gamma }_j\}=2{\delta }_{ij}$ define the displayed fermionic annihilation operator. Direct multiplication gives $f^2=0$ and $\{f,f^{†}\}=1$. Its number operator is a projection operator with eigenvalues zero and one. An individual Hermitian Majorana operator has ${\gamma }_i^{†}{\gamma }_i={\gamma }_i^2=1$, so that expression is not a nontrivial occupation observable. The occupation belongs to a chosen pair. A quadratic coupling $iJ{\gamma }_a{\gamma }_b=J(2f^{†}f-1)$ splits the pair's two occupations by $2|J|$.

A Majorana zero mode is a spatially localized Majorana operator that commutes with a gapped quadratic Hamiltonian, exactly or up to exponentially small finite-size corrections.

Two counterpropagating Majorana fields coupled by a real mass $m(x)$ bind a Majorana zero mode when $m$ changes sign. Its envelope is proportional to $\exp [-{\int }^{x}m(s)ds/(\hslash v)]$ up to orientation conventions, so a constant asymptotic mass gives localization length $\hslash v/|m|$.

For the long-wavelength Bogoliubov--de Gennes Hamiltonian $H=-\mu (x){\tau }_z-i\hslash \Delta {\tau }_x{\partial }_x$, a sign change from $\mu >0$ in a one-dimensional p-wave superconductor to $\mu <0$ in the vacuum binds a zero mode of width $\xi =\hslash \Delta /|\mu |$. Neglecting the quadratic kinetic term is valid when $|\mu |\ll m{\Delta }^2$ up to an inessential numerical factor.

$2M$ Majorana zero modes define $M$ complex fermionic modes. Fixing total fermion parity leaves a $2^{M-1}$-dimensional ground space, encoding $M-1$ qubits.

When Majorana zero modes have disjoint exponentially localized supports, every local parity-even observable acts as a scalar on the fixed-parity ground space. Finite overlap changes this by terms exponentially small in separation divided by localization length.

The unitary $R_{ab}=\exp (\pi {\gamma }_a{\gamma }_b/4)$ exchanges two Majorana operators by conjugation, sending one to the other and the other to its negative, with signs fixed by braid orientation.

Pairwise fermion-parity measurements involving an ancillary Majorana mode can reproduce a Majorana braiding operator without physically moving the zero modes. Projecting the ancilla back to its initial parity sector turns the product of projectors into the braid unitary up to normalization and known outcome-dependent signs.

A forced Majorana parity measurement alternates an undesired pairwise measurement with a reference parity measurement until the desired outcome occurs. Anticommuting parity observables give either result with probability one half, so the protocol terminates almost surely with a geometric waiting time.

Fermion parity is $(-1{)}^F$. It acts as plus one on bosonic states and minus one on fermionic states. Even operators commute with it and odd operators, including supersymmetry generators, anticommute with it. Local observables are parity even because observable algebras of spacelike separated regions must commute.

When a quadratic fermion spectrum was derived in a fixed fermion parity sector, filling all negative-energy modes is permitted only if the resulting particle number has that parity. If it does not, toggle the occupation of a mode with smallest absolute energy. Compare the minimum energies of the physical sectors. Zero-energy modes can create degeneracy without energy cost.

A fermion-parity measurement projects onto an eigenspace of the parity of a chosen collection of fermionic modes. For two Majorana fermion operators ${\gamma }_a$ and ${\gamma }_b$, the projectors are $(1\pm i{\gamma }_a{\gamma }_b)/2$.

A chiral Majorana edge mode is a self-adjoint one-way boundary field with Hamiltonian proportional to $-i\int c{\partial }_{x}cdx$. Its group velocity has one sign throughout the low-energy branch.

On a closed boundary, a chiral Majorana field is antiperiodic in the sector with even enclosed vortex parity and periodic in the sector with odd enclosed vortex parity. Only the periodic sector contains a zero-momentum Majorana mode.

The Kitaev chain is a one-dimensional spinless p-wave superconductor. Its topological phase has a Majorana zero mode at each end of an open chain.