Edge-Ferromagnetism from Majorana Flat-Bands: Application to Split Tunneling-Conductance Peaks in the High-Tc Cuprates

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that interactions induce edge ferromagnetism in Majorana flat-bands of d-wave superconductors, explaining split tunneling peaks in high-Tc cuprates and offering a new perspective on edge states.

Contribution

It introduces a novel interaction-driven edge ferromagnetism mechanism that splits Majorana flat-bands, providing a new explanation for tunneling peak splitting in high-Tc cuprates.

Findings

Edge ferromagnetism splits Majorana flat-bands.

Explains zero-bias peak splitting in high-Tc cuprates.

Proposes a more likely mechanism than previous theories.

Abstract

In mean-field descriptions of nodal d-wave superconductors, generic edges exhibit dispersionless Majorana fermion bands at zero-energy. These states give rise to an extensive ground-state degeneracy, and are protected by time-reversal (TR) symmetry. We argue that the infinite density of states of these flat-bands make them inherently unstable to interactions, and show that repulsive interactions lead to edge FM which splits the flat bands. This edge FM offers an explanation for the observation of splitting of zero-bias peaks in edge tunneling in High-Tc cuprate superconductors. We argue that this mechanism for splitting is more likely than previously proposed scenarios, and describe its experimental consequences.