Dynamical motion and generation of Majorana fermions in the bulk

Qi Zhang, Biao Wu

Published 2016-09-21Version 1

A Majorana fermion in the bulk of Kitaev's spinless p-wave superconductor can hop dynamically only in one direction while its partner (together they make up an electron) can hop only in the opposite direction. This one-way dynamical motion is elementary; more complex dynamics, even the famed edge modes, can be understood in terms of these one-way motions. One immediate consequence is that the wave function of an electron in such a superconductor is always localized. This one-way motion can be exploited to dynamically generate and manipulate isolated Majorana fermions in the bulk.