Topological field theory for p-wave superconductors

• We propose a topological field theory for a spinless two-dimensional (2D) chiral superconductor (SC) that contains fundamental Majorana fields. Due to a fermionic gauge symmetry, the Majorana modes survive as dynamical degrees of freedom only at magnetic vortex cores, and on edges. We argue that these modes have the topological properties pertinent to a p-wave SC including the non-Abelian braiding statistics, and we support this claim by calculating the ground state degeneracy on a torus. We also briefly discuss the connection to the Moore-Read Pfaffian quantum Hall state and extensions to the spinfull case and to 3D topological SCs.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences (hsv//eng)

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ref (subject category)

art (subject category)