Exact ground states for interacting Kitaev chains

TL;DR

This paper introduces an exactly solvable one-dimensional fermionic model with topological order, demonstrating degenerate ground states and Majorana zero modes, and extends the analysis to include interactions.

Contribution

It presents a frustration-free model with exact ground states and Majorana modes, and generalizes findings to interacting systems.

Findings

Two exactly degenerate ground states for finite systems

Analytical characterization of Majorana zero modes

Extension of results to interacting fermions

Abstract

We introduce a frustration-free, one-dimensional model of spinless fermions with hopping, p-wave superconducting pairing and alternating chemical potentials. The model possesses two exactly degenerate ground states even for finite system sizes. We present analytical results for the strong Majorana zero modes, the phase diagram and the topological order. Furthermore, we generalise our results to include interactions.