Heat Transport and Majorana Fermions in a Superconducting Dot-Wire System: An Exact Solution

• Main Authors: Oscar Bohórquez, A. M. S. Macêdo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2018-01-01
• Series: Advances in Mathematical Physics
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/4016394

We obtain exact expressions for the first three moments of the heat conductance of a quantum chain that crosses over from a superconducting quantum dot to a superconducting disordered quantum wire. Our analytic solution provides exact detailed descriptions of all crossovers that can be observed in the system as a function of its length, which include ballistic-metallic and metallic-insulating crossovers. The two Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) symmetry classes with time-reversal symmetry are accounted for. The striking effect of total suppression of the insulating regime in systems with broken spin-rotation invariance is observed at large length scales. For a single channel system, this anomalous effect can be interpreted as a signature of the presence of the elusive Majorana fermion in a condensed matter system.