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arXiv:1504.05192 · Physical Review Letters

Emergent Supersymmetry from Strongly Interacting Majorana Zero Modes

Armin Rahmani, Xiaoyu Zhu, Marcel Franz, Ian K. Affleck

Published Oct 13, 2015• 158 citations
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Abstract

We show that a strongly interacting chain of Majorana zero modes exhibits a supersymmetric quantum critical point corresponding to the c=7/10 tricritical Ising model, which separates a critical phase in the Ising universality class from a supersymmetric massive phase. We verify our predictions with numerical density-matrix-renormalization-group computations and determine the consequences for tunneling experiments.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.115.166401

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We show that a strongly interacting chain of Majorana zero modes exhibits a supersymmetric quantum critical point corresponding to the c=7/10 tricritical Ising model, which separates a critical phase in the Ising universality class from a supersymmetric massive phase. We verify our predictions with numerical density-matrix-renormalization-group computations and determine the consequences for tunneling experiments.
A strongly interacting chain of Majorana fermions realizes the supersymmetric tricritical Ising phase, with supersymmetry (SUSY) extending into a symmetry-broken ordered phase adjacent to the tricritical point. Although the signatures of SUSY at the tricritical point are well understood, their behavior in the gapped phase remains less clear. Here, we address two key questions: how SUSY manifests in the gapped phase and what is the nature of the excitations in this phase. We show that, in the thermodynamic limit, a conventional SUSY diagnostic that remains finite at the tricritical point diverges immediately on the Ising side, yet decays continuously to zero deeper in the gapped phase, signaling the persistence of SUSY. Focusing on the lowest excited states in the supersymmetric gapped regime, we find that the excitations consist of soliton-antisoliton pairs separating distinct ordered regions. Each soliton binds an emergent localized Majorana mode, and together the pair forms a nonlocal Dirac fermion. The occupation of this Dirac mode distinguishes eigenstates with even and odd fermion parity.
Majorana fermions have been an important subject of research for the past few years in the field of condensed matter physics. After the realization of Majorana zero mode (MZM) in a Kitaev-chain, studies on the systems of many-body MZMs have been increased. Throughout the previous research, It was found that a few of the Majorana zero mode 1-dimensional chain models possess a Tricritical Ising model conformal field theory as a critical point in their phase diagram. These critical points are supersymmetric and the supersymmetric behaviour remains at a near vicinity of them in their neighbouring gapped phase. This particular behaviour of these 1D strongly-interacting MZMs is believed to be interesting since the system possesses a supersymmetric phase whilst having a nite correlation length in the gapped phase. In this thesis, we are going to investigate the supersymmetric realization of these models in their gapped phase, try to understand their excitation levels with the concept of soliton/antisoliton states and try to find traces of supersymmetry in this system of a condensed matter.
We investigate the emergence of spacetime supersymmetry (SUSY) in an interacting Kitaev chain model with explicit microscopic N=1\mathcal{N}=1N=1 quantum mechanical SUSY. As the interaction strength is varied, the model transitions from a weak-coupling gapless phase with spontaneously broken SUSY to a strong-coupling phase with restored SUSY. In this paper, we numerically determine the transition point and investigate the phase structure around it. The weak-coupling phase is governed by the Ising conformal field theory (CFT) with central charge c=1/2c=1/2c=1/2, which agrees with the prediction made in our previous paper. At the SUSY restoration transition, which borders the strong-coupling gapped phase, the transition belongs to the c=7/10c=7/10c=7/10 tricritical Ising universality with emergent superconformal invariance. Crucially, the phase structure around the transition closely aligns with the scenario proposed by Zamolodchikov and others based on the integrable deformation of CFTs. These findings provide a concrete example of a lattice model where explicit microscopic supersymmetry at criticality enriches the understanding of phase transitions governed by supersymmetric conformal field theories.
The Hubbard and spinless fermion chains are paradigms of strongly correlated systems, very well understood using the Bethe ansatz, density matrix renormalization group (DMRG), and field theory/renormalization group (RG) methods. They have been applied to one-dimensional materials and have provided important insights for understanding higher-dimensional cases. Recently, an interacting fermion model has been introduced, with possible applications to topological materials. It has a single Majorana fermion operator on each lattice site and interactions with the shortest possible range that involve four sites. We present a thorough analysis of the phase diagram of this model in one dimension using field-theory/RG and DMRG methods. It includes a gapped supersymmetric region and a gapless phase with coexisting Luttinger liquid and Ising degrees of freedom. In addition to a first-order transition, three critical points occur: tricritical Ising, Lifshitz, and a generalization of the commensurate-incommensurate transition. We also survey various gapped phases of the system that arise when the translation symmetry is broken by dimerization and find both trivial and topological phases with 0, 1, and 2 Majorana zero modes bound to the edges of the chain with open boundary conditions.
We introduce a two-ladder lattice model with interacting Majorana fermions that could be realized on the surfaces of a topological insulator film. We study this model with a combination of analytical and numerical techniques, and we find a phase diagram that features both gapless and gapped phases as well as interesting phase transitions including a quantum critical point in the tricritical Ising (TCI) universality class. The latter occurs at an intermediate-coupling strength at a meeting point of a first-order transition line and an Ising critical line, and it is known to be described by a superconformal field theory with central charge c=710c=\frac{7}{10}c=107​. We discuss the experimental feasibility of constructing the model and tuning parameters to the vicinity of the TCI point where signatures of the elusive supersymmetry can be observed.
We explore critical properties of a chain of interacting Majorana fermions, particles that are their own antiparticles. We study the combined effect of two competing interaction terms of the shortest possible range and show this results in a very rich phase diagram with nine different phases, five of which are critical. In addition, we report a wide variety of quantum phase transitions: the tri-critical Ising lines; the Lifshitz critical line characterized by the dynamical critical exponent z=3z=3z=3; two Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions; and an exotic first-order transition between the floating and the gapped phases. However, the most surprising result is the emergence of the commensurate line at which the floating phases collapse into direct transition. We provide numerical evidences that the resulting multicritical point belongs to the universality class of the eight-vertex model. Implications in the context of supersymmetric properties of the Majorana chain are briefly discussed.