Near-zero-energy end states in topologically trivial spin-orbit coupled superconducting nanowires with a smooth confinement

A one-dimensional spin-orbit coupled nanowire with proximity-induced pairing from a nearby s-wave superconductor may be in a topological nontrivial state, in which it has a zero energy Majorana bound state at each end. We find that the topological trivial phase may have fermionic end states with an exponentially small energy, if the confinement potential at the wire's ends is smooth. The possible existence of such near-zero energy levels implies that the mere observation of a zero-bias peak in the tunneling conductance is not an exclusive signature of a topological superconducting phase even in the ideal clean single channel limit.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Food systems research in Ethiopia: 25 priority questions identified

Poster prepared for a share fair, Addis Ababa, May 201

Pumped current and voltage for an adiabatic quantum pump

We consider adiabatic pumping of electrons through a quantum dot. There are two ways to operate the pump: to create a dc current ${\bar I}$ or to create a dc voltage ${\bar V}$. We demonstrate that, for very slow pumping, ${\bar I}$ and ${\bar V}$ are not simply related via the dc conductance $G$ as $\bar I = \bar V G$. For the case of a chaotic quantum dot, we consider the statistical distribution of ${\bar V} G - {\bar I}$. Results are presented for the limiting cases of a dot with single channel and with multichannel point contacts.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Low-energy sub-gap states in multi-channel Majorana wires

One-dimensional p-wave superconductors are known to harbor Majorana bound states at their ends. Superconducting wires with a finite width W may have fermionic subgap states in addition to possible Majorana end states. While they do not necessarily inhibit the use of Majorana end states for topological computation, these subgap states can obscure the identification of a topological phase through a density-of-states measurement. We present two simple models to describe low-energy fermionic subgap states. If the wire's width W is much smaller than the superconductor coherence length \xi, the relevant subgap states are localized near the ends of the wire and cluster near zero energy, whereas the lowest-energy subgap states are delocalized if $W \gtrsim \xi$. Notably, the energy of the lowest-lying fermionic subgap state (if present at all) has a maximum for W ~ \xi.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Rotating saddle trap as Foucault's pendulum

One of the many surprising results found in the mechanics of rotating systems is the stabilization of a particle in a rapidly rotating planar saddle potential. Besides the counterintuitive stabilization, an unexpected precessional motion is observed. In this note we show that this precession is due to a Coriolis-like force caused by the rotation of the potential. To our knowledge this is the first example where such force arises in an inertial reference frame. We also propose an idea of a simple mechanical demonstration of this effect.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure

Linear stability analysis of resonant periodic motions in the restricted three-body problem

The equations of the restricted three-body problem describe the motion of a massless particle under the influence of two primaries of masses $1-\mu$ and $\mu$, $0\leq \mu \leq 1/2$, that circle each other with period equal to $2\pi$. When $\mu=0$, the problem admits orbits for the massless particle that are ellipses of eccentricity $e$ with the primary of mass 1 located at one of the focii. If the period is a rational multiple of $2\pi$, denoted $2\pi p/q$, some of these orbits perturb to periodic motions for $\mu > 0$. For typical values of $e$ and $p/q$, two resonant periodic motions are obtained for $\mu > 0$. We show that the characteristic multipliers of both these motions are given by expressions of the form $1\pm\sqrt{C(e,p,q)\mu}+O(\mu)$ in the limit $\mu\to 0$. The coefficient $C(e,p,q)$ is analytic in $e$ at $e=0$ and C(e,p,q)=O(e^{\abs{p-q}}). The coefficients in front of e^{\abs{p-q}}, obtained when $C(e,p,q)$ is expanded in powers of $e$ for the two resonant periodic motions, sum to zero. Typically, if one of the two resonant periodic motions is of elliptic type the other is of hyperbolic type. We give similar results for retrograde periodic motions and discuss periodic motions that nearly collide with the primary of mass $1-\mu$

Localization of quasiparticles in a disordered vortex

We study the diffusive motion of low-energy normal quasiparticles along the core of a single vortex in a dirty, type-II, s-wave superconductor. The physics of this system is argued to be described by a one-dimensional supersymmetric nonlinear sigma model, which differs from the sigma models known for disordered metallic wires. For an isolated vortex and quasiparticle energies less than the Thouless energy, we recover the spectral correlations that are predicted by random matrix theory for the universality class C. We then consider the transport problem of transmission of quasiparticles through a vortex connected to particle reservoirs at both ends. The transmittance at zero energy exhibits a weak localization correction reminiscent of quasi-one-dimensional metallic systems with symmetry index beta = 1. Weak localization disappears with increasing energy over a scale set by the Thouless energy. This crossover should be observable in measurements of the longitudinal heat conductivity of an ensemble of vortices under mesoscopic conditions. In the regime of strong localization, the localization length is shown to decrease by a factor of 8 as the quasiparticle energy goes to zero.Comment: 38 pages, LaTeX2e + epsf, 4 eps figures, one reference adde