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Unpaired Majorana modes in the gapped phase of Kitaev's honeycomb model

Olga Petrova, Paula Mellado, and Oleg Tchernyshyov
Phys. Rev. B 88, 140405(R) – Published 14 October 2013

Abstract

We study the gapped phase of Kitaev's honeycomb model (a Z2 spin liquid) in the presence of lattice defects. We find that some dislocations and bond defects carry unpaired Majorana fermions. Physical excitations associated with these defects are (complex) fermion modes made out of two (real) Majorana fermions connected by a Z2 gauge string. The quantum state of these modes is robust against local noise and can be changed by winding a Z2 vortex around a dislocation. The exact solution respects gauge invariance and reveals a crucial role of the gauge field in the physics of Majorana modes.

  • Figure
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  • Received 10 July 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.88.140405

©2013 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Olga Petrova1,*, Paula Mellado2, and Oleg Tchernyshyov1

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
  • 2School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Adolfo Ibáñez University, Santiago, Chile

  • *Current address: Max-Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, 01187 Dresden, Germany.

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Issue

Vol. 88, Iss. 14 — 1 October 2013

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