Robustness of Majorana zero-energy state

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the robustness of Majorana zero-energy states (MZES) in topological quantum computation, revealing that they are only critically stable and thus not sufficiently robust for quantum information storage under arbitrary perturbations.

Contribution

It provides an analytical stability analysis of MZES based on Lyapounov's principle, showing their critical stability rather than asymptotic stability, unlike previous numerical approaches.

Findings

MZES are not asymptotically stable under external perturbations.

Analytical derivation applicable to arbitrary perturbations.

Demonstration in semiconductor/superconductor junction.

Abstract

Based on the principle of linearized stability proposed by Lyapounov, we investigate the robustness of Majorana zero energy state (MZES), which plays an important role in topological quantum computation. We show that the MZES is not enough robust against the external perturbations, because mathematically it is critical stable instead of the asymptotic stable, only the states with asymptotic stability can be regarded as robustness, so the MZES can not be used to carry quantum information in topological quantum computation. Our study is different from previous works that usually make the numerical test by some special perturbations, our analytical derivation is suitable for arbitrary perturbations. As an example, we demonstrate it by the stability analysis of MZES in the spin-orbit coupled semiconductor/ superconductor junction.