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arXiv:1710.04168 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Charge response of the Majorana toric code

Ananda Roy, Fabian Hassler

Published Jan 22, 2018• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

At zero temperature, a two-dimensional lattice of Majorana zero modes on mesoscopic superconducting islands has a topologically ordered toric-code phase. Recently, a Landau field theory has been proposed for the system that captures its different phases and the associated phase transitions. It was shown that with the increase of Josephson tunneling between the islands, a continuous symmetry-breaking three-dimensional (3D)-XY transition gets transformed into a discrete symmetry-breaking 3D-Ising transition through a couple of tricritical points and first-order transitions. Using the proposed field theory, we analyze the charge response of the system at the different continuous phase transitions. We calculate the universal conductivity at the 3D-XY transitions and the change in the superconducting density at the Ising transition using 1/$N$ expansion. Furthermore, by computing a one-loop correction to the field theory, we show that an additional tricritical point is likely to be present in the phase diagram. Finally, we provide a mean-field calculation that supports the earlier proposed field theory.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.97.024512

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Ground-state phase diagram of the toric code model in a parallel magnetic field has three distinct phases: topological, charge-condensed, and vortex-condensed states. To study it we consider an implicit local order parameter characterizing the transition between the topological and charge-condensed phases, and sample it using continuous-time Monte Carlo simulations. The corresponding second-order transition line is obtained by finite-size scaling analysis of this order parameter. Symmetry breaking between charges and vortices along the first-order transition line is also observed, and our numerical result shows that the end point of the first-order transition line is located at ${h}_{x}^{(c)}={h}_{z}^{(c)}=0.418(2)$.

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At zero temperature, a two-dimensional lattice of Majorana zero modes on mesoscopic superconducting islands has a topologically ordered toric-code phase. Recently, a Landau field theory has been proposed for the system that captures its different phases and the associated phase transitions. It was shown that with the increase of Josephson tunneling between the islands, a continuous symmetry-breaking three-dimensional (3D)-XY transition gets transformed into a discrete symmetry-breaking 3D-Ising transition through a couple of tricritical points and first-order transitions. Using the proposed field theory, we analyze the charge response of the system at the different continuous phase transitions. We calculate the universal conductivity at the 3D-XY transitions and the change in the superconducting density at the Ising transition using 1/NNN expansion. Furthermore, by computing a one-loop correction to the field theory, we show that an additional tricritical point is likely to be present in the phase diagram. Finally, we provide a mean-field calculation that supports the earlier proposed field theory.
At zero temperature, a two-dimensional lattice of Majorana zero modes on mesoscopic superconducting islands exhibits a topologically ordered toric code phase. Recently, a Landau field theory was used to describe the different phases of the aforementioned system and the phase transitions separating them. While the field theory provides details on the properties of the system close to the phase transitions, signatures of topological ordering in the different phases have not been computed. This is the primary goal of this work. We describe a lattice gauge theory of the Majorana toric code in terms of U(1)\mathrm{U}(1)U(1) matter fields coupled to an emergent Z2{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}Z2​ gauge field. Subsequently, we use a generalized Wilson-loop order parameter, the equal-time Fredenhagen-Marcu order parameter, to characterize the topological ordering in the different phases. Our computation provides evidence of the toric code phase both in the Mott-insulator and the charge-2e2e2e superconductor phases, while showing that the toric code phase disappears in the charge-eee superconductor phase. In addition, we perturbatively analyze the influence of Cooper pair tunneling on the topological gap of the toric code in the limit of strong charging energy and show that the toric code phase is, in fact, stabilized by the Cooper pair tunneling. Our results are relevant for experimental realizations of the Majorana toric code.
The toric code based on Majorana fermions on mesoscopic superconducting islands is a promising candidate for quantum information processing. In the limit of vanishing Cooper-pair tunneling, it has been argued that the phase transition separating the topologically ordered phase of the toric code from the trivial one is in the universality class of the (2+1)D XY model. On the other hand, in the limit of infinitely large Cooper-pair tunneling, the phase transition is in the universality class of the (2+1)D Ising model. In this work, we treat the case of finite Cooper-pair tunneling and address the question of how the continuous XY symmetry breaking phase transition turns into a discrete Z_{2} symmetry breaking one when the Cooper-pair tunneling rate is increased. We show that this happens through a couple of tricritical points and first order phase transitions. Using a Jordan-Wigner transformation, we map the problem to that of spins coupled to quantum rotors and subsequently, propose a Landau field theory for this model that matches the known results in the respective limits. We calculate the effective field theories and provide the relevant critical exponents for the different phase transitions. Our results are relevant for predicting the stability of the topological phase in realistic experimental implementations.
Majorana zero modes (MZM-s) occurring at the edges of a one-dimensional (1D), ppp-wave, spinless superconductor, in the absence of fluctuations of the phase of the superconducting order parameter, are quintessential examples of topologically protected zero-energy modes occurring at the edges of 1D symmetry-protected topological phases. In this work, we numerically investigate the fate of the topological phase in the presence of phase fluctuations using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) technique. To that end, we consider a one-dimensional array of MZM-s on mesoscopic superconducting islands at zero temperature. Cooper-pair and MZM-assisted single-electron tunneling, together with finite charging energy of the mesoscopic islands, give rise to a rich phase diagram of this model. We show that the system can be in either a Mott-insulating phase, a Luttinger liquid (LL) phase of Cooper pairs, or a second gapless phase. In contrast to the LL of Cooper pairs, this second phase is characterized by nonlocal string correlation functions which decay algebraically due to gapless charge-eee excitations. The three phases are separated from each other by phase transitions of either Kosterlitz-Thouless or Ising type. Using a Jordan-Wigner transformation, we map the system to a generalized Bose-Hubbard model with two types of hopping and use DMRG to analyze the different phases and the phase transitions.
A lattice of interacting Majorana modes can occur in a superconducting film on a topological insulator in a magnetic field. The phase diagram as a function of interaction strength for the square lattice was analyzed recently using a combination of mean field theory and renormalization group methods, and was found to include second order phase transitions. One of these corresponds to spontaneous breaking of an emergent U(1) symmetry, for attractive interactions. Despite the fact that the U(1) symmetry is not exact, this transition was claimed to be in a supersymmetric universality class when time reversal symmetry is present and in the conventional XY universality class otherwise. Another second order transition was predicted for repulsive interactions with time reversal symmetry to be in the same universality class as the transition occurring in the Gross-Neveu model, despite the fact that the U(1) symmetry is not exact in the Majorana model. We analyze these phase transitions using a modified $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ expansion, confirming the previous conclusions. We also use soft supersymmetry breaking to prove an exact relation for the linear order fermion mass beta function.
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.
Ground-state phase diagram of the toric code model in a parallel magnetic field has three distinct phases: topological, charge-condensed, and vortex-condensed states. To study it we consider an implicit local order parameter characterizing the transition between the topological and charge-condensed phases, and sample it using continuous-time Monte Carlo simulations. The corresponding second-order transition line is obtained by finite-size scaling analysis of this order parameter. Symmetry breaking between charges and vortices along the first-order transition line is also observed, and our numerical result shows that the end point of the first-order transition line is located at hx(c)=hz(c)=0.418(2){h}_{x}^{(c)}={h}_{z}^{(c)}=0.418(2)hx(c)​=hz(c)​=0.418(2).