Konwersatorium im. Leopolda Infelda

Majorana fermions (particles which are their own antiparticle) canbe constructed in condensed matter context out of electron and holeexcitations. The necessary ingredients are the presence of a superconductor to hide the charge difference and a Berry phase toeliminate the energy of zero-point motion.

I will discuss a particular mechanism for the formation of Majorana bound states. An atomic-scale electrostatic line defect in a p-wavesuperconductor can have a pair of Majorana bound states at the end points. This mechanism explains also the appearance of a thermal metal in lattice models of p-wave superconductors. The transition to the metallic phase of deconfined Majorana states takes place as the electrostatic disorder is increased.