# Dissipative Majorana quantum wires

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how dissipation affects topological quantum wires, specifically the robustness of Majorana modes, using numerical and analytical methods to reveal dissipation-induced phase transitions.

## Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical and analytical study of dissipation effects on topological phases in Kitaev wires beyond traditional approximations.

## Key findings

- Weak dissipation does not destroy topological phases.
- Strong dissipation can induce quantum phase transitions or crossovers.
- Dissipation-driven quantum criticality is identified and analyzed.

## Abstract

In this paper, we formulate and quantitatively examine the effect of dissipation on topological systems. We use a specific model of Kitaev quantum wire with an onsite Ohmic dissipation, and perform a numerically exact quantum Monte Carlo simulation to investigate this interacting open quantum system with a strong system-bath (SB) coupling beyond the scope of Born-Markovian approximation. We concentrate on the effect of dissipation on the topological features of the system (e.g. the Majorana edge mode) at zero temperature, and find that even though the topological phase is robust against weak SB couplings as it is supposed to be, it will eventually be destroyed by sufficiently strong dissipations via either a continuous quantum phase transition or a crossover depending on the symmetry of the system. The dissipation-driven quantum criticality is also discussed. In addition, using the framework of Abelian bosonization, we provide an analytical description of the interplay between pairing, dissipation and interaction in our model.