Electron correlation effects in superconducting nanowires in and out of equilibrium

TL;DR

This paper investigates how electron correlations influence the behavior of topological superconducting nanowires, especially the Majorana states, under various nonequilibrium conditions using advanced Green's function methods.

Contribution

It introduces a nonequilibrium Green's function approach with the generalized Kadanoff-Baym ansatz to analyze electron-correlation effects in topological superconducting nanowires.

Findings

Electron correlations impact transient Majorana signatures.

External perturbations modify zero-energy Majorana states.

Method provides insights into nonequilibrium dynamics of topological phases.

Abstract

One-dimensional nanowires with strong spin-orbit coupling and proximity-induced superconductivity are predicted to exhibit topological superconductivity with condensed-matter analogues to Majorana fermions. Here, the nonequilibrium Green's function approach with the generalized Kadanoff-Baym ansatz is employed to study the electron-correlation effects and their role in the topological superconducting phase in and out of equilibrium. Electron-correlation effects are found to affect the transient signatures regarding the zero-energy Majorana states, when the superconducting nanowire is subjected to external perturbations such as magnetic-field quenching, laser-pulse excitation, and coupling to biased normal-metal leads.