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arXiv:2509.26134 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Dynamics of Majorana zero modes across a hybrid Kitaev chain

Rajiv Kumar, Rohit Kumar Shukla, Levan Chotorlishvili, Sunil K. Mishra

Published Dec 10, 2025• 2 citations
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Abstract

The Kitaev chain has been extensively explored in the context of uniform couplings, with studies focusing either on purely nearest-neighbor interactions or on systems dominated by long-range superconducting pairing. Building on these investigations, we introduce a hybrid Kitaev chain in which the lattice is partitioned into two segments: the left segment comprises nearest-neighbor couplings, while the right segment incorporates long-range pairing. To probe the role of the interface, we study two scenarios: a decoupled (suppressed hopping) case, where the segments are isolated, and a coupled case, where they are connected via interface hopping that enables tunneling. Using this setup, we investigate the behavior of Majorana zero modes at the interface between the two segments, finding that in the decoupled case, Majorana zero modes remain sharply localized at the left segment chain edges while massive Dirac modes remain in right segment chain edges, with their energies and localization strongly dependent on the long-range pairing exponent. Introducing a finite interface coupling enables transfer of Majorana zero modes from the edges of the left segment to those of the right segment of the chain. We characterize this dynamics by the fidelity of state transfer, dynamical rotation, and inverse participation ratio. We show the signature of Majorana zero mode transfer across the interface by the spatiotemporal profile of the probability distribution of the time evolved state.

DOI
10.1103/7cqp-ws6c

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The Kitaev chain has been extensively explored in the context of uniform couplings, with studies focusing either on purely nearest-neighbor interactions or on systems dominated by long-range superconducting pairing. Building on these investigations, we introduce a hybrid Kitaev chain in which the lattice is partitioned into two segments: the left segment comprises nearest-neighbor couplings, while the right segment incorporates long-range pairing. To probe the role of the interface, we study two scenarios: a decoupled (suppressed hopping) case, where the segments are isolated, and a coupled case, where they are connected via interface hopping that enables tunneling. Using this setup, we investigate the behavior of Majorana zero modes at the interface between the two segments, finding that in the decoupled case, Majorana zero modes remain sharply localized at the left segment chain edges while massive Dirac modes remain in right segment chain edges, with their energies and localization strongly dependent on the long-range pairing exponent. Introducing a finite interface coupling enables transfer of Majorana zero modes from the edges of the left segment to those of the right segment of the chain. We characterize this dynamics by the fidelity of state transfer, dynamical rotation, and inverse participation ratio. We show the signature of Majorana zero mode transfer across the interface by the spatiotemporal profile of the probability distribution of the time evolved state.
We investigate an inter-leg coupled hybrid Kitaev ladder composed of two parallel superconducting chains with distinct pairing interactions. The upper chain of the ladder hosts conventional ppp-wave pairing, while the lower chain exhibits long-range pairing that decays algebraically with distance. We demonstrate that the mutual influence of long-range pairing exponent, chemical potential, and inter-leg coupling strength gives rise to a rich topological phase diagram characterized by multiple Majorana zero modes and massive Dirac modes. In particular, we show that the inter-leg coupling renormalizes the effective energy scales, leading to a systematic shift of the topological phase boundaries and enabling controlled tuning of the Majorana modes. Furthermore, we identify a transition from a two Majorana zero mode phase to a phase encapsulating four Majorana zero modes, as the long-range pairing exponent is varied. This transition is accompanied by a crossover regime in which Majorana zero modes coexist with massive Dirac modes, reflecting hybridization between edge and bulk excitations. This ladder thus provides a minimal and attractive platform for realizing the impact of a long-range pairing on topological phases. Our results highlight the potential of long-range hybrid systems for engineering tunable topological states relevant for quantum information applications.
We consider the Kitaev chain model with finite and infinite range in the hopping and pairing parameters, looking in particular at the appearance of Majorana zero-energy modes and massive edge modes. We study the system both in the presence and in the absence of time-reversal symmetry, by means of topological invariants and exact diagonalization, disclosing very rich phase diagrams. In particular, for extended hopping and pairing terms, we can get as many Majorana modes at each end of the chain as the neighbors involved in the couplings. Finally, we generalize the transfer matrix approach useful to calculate the zero-energy Majorana states at the edges for a generic number of coupled neighbors.
Abstract In the original Kitaev chain, Majorana zero modes (MZMs) at opposite edges have the same localization length. Here it is shown that a Hermitian finite-range extended Kitaev chain can instead support asymmetrically localized MZMs with different left and right localization lengths. Such asymmetry is excluded when all pairing amplitudes share a common phase, so the effect requires a genuinely extended model beyond the nearest-neighbor Kitaev chain. For the minimal next-nearest-neighbor case, the asymmetry originates from the inequivalence of the left and right boundary equations, which leads to different selections of decaying bulk solutions and yields a necessary-and-sufficient condition for its occurrence. A transfer-matrix reformulation further shows that the asymmetry is robust against sufficiently weak disorder preserving the block-triangular structure. For finite chains, the hybridization-induced energy splitting is exponentially small and controlled by the shorter localization length.
The topological properties of the Kitaev chain model with extended-range interactions are investigated, focusing on cases where the topological winding number is preserved. We assume that the pairing and hopping terms decay algebraically in space with exponents ααα and βββ, respectively. We show that in the truncated-range scenario, there are as many distinct topological phases as the number of coupled neighboring sites. In addition, an explicit analytical formulation is provided to evaluate the topological invariant and the phase transitions that emerge in these systems. Besides the analytical description, we introduce a new physical insight into the topological excitations of the ground-state by measuring the spatial distribution of the edge modes with the Majorana average position. Taking the next-nearest neighbor Kitaev chains as a probe, various numerical calculations of Majorana edge states were performed in finite-size clusters to determine the sensitivity of the topological zero energy modes to the parameters of interest. The occupation of edge-to-edge non-local fermion states is computed and defined as an effective parity. Such an effective parity exhibits new interesting features beyond the energetic exchange from the ground-state fermion parity switches, which are related to the distribution of the respective edge modes. Our calculations show a direct correlation between the ground-state fermion parity and the edge occupation numbers, which are translated into localization and delocalization of the Majorana average position.
A quantum computer based on Majorana qubits would contain a large number of zero-energy Majorana states. This system can be modelled as a connected network of the Ising-Kitaev chains alternating the “trivial” and “topological” regions, with the zero-energy Majorana fermions localized at their interfaces. The low-energy sector of the theory describing such a network can be formulated in terms of leading-order couplings between the Majorana zero modes. I consider a minimal model exhibiting effective couplings between four Majorana zero modes – the nonuniform Ising-Kitaev chain, containing two “topological” regions separated by a “trivial” region. Solving the model exactly, I show that for generic values of the model parameters the four zero modes are localized at the four interface points of the chain. In the special case where additional inversion symmetry is present, the Majorana zero modes are “delocalized” between two interface points. In both cases, the low-energy sector of the theory can be formulated in terms of the localized Majorana fermions, but the couplings between some of them are independent of their respective separations: the exact solution does not support the “nearest-neighbor” form of the effective low-energy Hamiltonian.
A quantum computer based on Majorana qubits would contain a large number of zero-energy Majorana states. This system can be modelled as a connected network of the Ising-Kitaev chains alternating the "trivial" and "topological" regions, with the zero-energy Majorana fermions localized at their interfaces. The low-energy sector of the theory describing such a network can be formulated in terms of leading-order couplings between the Majorana zero modes. I consider a minimal model exhibiting effective couplings between four Majorana zero modes - the nonuniform Ising-Kitaev chain, containing two "topological" regions separated by a "trivial" region. Solving the model exactly, I show that for generic values of the model parameters the four zero modes are localized at the four interface points of the chain. In the special case where additional inversion symmetry is present, the Majorana zero modes are "delocalized" between two interface points. In both cases, the low-energy sector of the theory can be formulated in terms of the localized Majorana fermions, but the couplings between some of them are independent of their respective separations: the exact solution does not support the "nearest-neighbor" form of the effective low-energy Hamiltonian.