Minimal Zeeman field requirement for a topological transition in superconductors

Pöyhönen, Kim; Varjas, Daniel; Wimmer, Michael; Akhmerov, Anton R.

doi:10.21468/SciPostPhys.10.5.108

SciPost Physics

Minimal Zeeman field requirement for a topological transition in superconductors

Kim Pöyhönen, Daniel Varjas, Michael Wimmer, Anton R. Akhmerov

SciPost Phys. 10, 108 (2021) · published 18 May 2021

doi: 10.21468/SciPostPhys.10.5.108
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Abstract

Platforms for creating Majorana quasiparticles rely on superconductivity and breaking of time-reversal symmetry. By studying continuous deformations to known trivial states, we find that the relationship between superconducting pairing and time reversal breaking imposes rigorous bounds on the topology of the system. Applying these bounds to $s$-wave systems with a Zeeman field, we conclude that a topological phase transition requires that the Zeeman energy at least locally exceed the superconducting pairing by the energy gap of the full Hamiltonian. Our results are independent of the geometry and dimensionality of the system.

TY  - JOUR
PB  - SciPost Foundation
DO  - 10.21468/SciPostPhys.10.5.108
TI  - Minimal Zeeman field requirement for a topological transition in superconductors
PY  - 2021/05/18
UR  - https://www.scipost.org/SciPostPhys.10.5.108
JF  - SciPost Physics
JA  - SciPost Phys.
VL  - 10
IS  - 5
SP  - 108
A1  - Pöyhönen, Kim
AU  - Varjas, Daniel
AU  - Wimmer, Michael
AU  - Akhmerov, Anton R.
AB  - Platforms for creating Majorana quasiparticles rely on superconductivity and breaking of time-reversal symmetry. By studying continuous deformations to known trivial states, we find that the relationship between superconducting pairing and time reversal breaking imposes rigorous bounds on the topology of the system. Applying these bounds to $s$-wave systems with a Zeeman field, we conclude that a topological phase transition requires that the Zeeman energy at least locally exceed the superconducting pairing by the energy gap of the full Hamiltonian. Our results are independent of the geometry and dimensionality of the system.
ER  -

@Article{10.21468/SciPostPhys.10.5.108,
	title={{Minimal Zeeman field requirement for a topological transition in superconductors}},
	author={Kim Pöyhönen and Daniel Varjas and Michael Wimmer and Anton R. Akhmerov},
	journal={SciPost Phys.},
	volume={10},
	pages={108},
	year={2021},
	publisher={SciPost},
	doi={10.21468/SciPostPhys.10.5.108},
	url={https://scipost.org/10.21468/SciPostPhys.10.5.108},
}

Cited by 5

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Funders for the research work leading to this publication

Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse (Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation) (through Organization: Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse / Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation)
Microsoft Research (through Organization: Microsoft)
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek / Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research [NWO]
Vetenskapsrådet / Swedish Research Council