Metamorphosis of Andreev bound states into Majorana bound states in pristine nanowires

TL;DR

This paper theoretically analyzes how Andreev bound states evolve into Majorana bound states in pristine nanowires, explaining experimental tunneling spectra features and identifying two distinct non-topological regimes influenced by Zeeman splitting.

Contribution

It reveals the intrinsic presence of Andreev bound states on the trivial side of the topological transition and clarifies their impact on tunneling spectra, aligning theory with experimental observations.

Findings

Andreev bound states dominate tunneling spectra below the transition.

No gap reopening signature appears above the topological transition.

Gap closure features are due to Andreev states, not trivial gap closing.

Abstract

We show theoretically that in the generic finite chemical potential situation, the clean superconducting spin-orbit-coupled nanowire has two distinct nontopological regimes as a function of Zeeman splitting (below the topological quantum phase transition): one is characterized by finite-energy in-gap Andreev bound states, while the other has only extended bulk states. The Andreev bound state regime is characterized by strong features in the tunneling spectra creating a "gap closure" signature, but no "gap reopening" signature should be apparent above the topological quantum phase transition, in agreement with most recent experimental observations. The gap closure feature is actually the coming together of the Andreev bound states at high chemical potential rather than a simple trivial gap of extended bulk states closing at the transition. Our theoretical finding establishes the generic intrinsic Andreev bound states on the trivial side of the topological quantum phase transition as the main contributors to the tunneling conductance spectra, providing a generic interpretation of existing experiments in clean Majorana nanowires. Our work also explains why experimental tunnel conductance spectra generically have gap closing features below the topological quantum phase transition, but no gap opening features above it.