Publications

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InP/GaSb core-shell nanowires: A novel hole-based platform with strong spin-orbit coupling for full-shell hybrid devices

Andrea Vezzosi, Carlos Payá, Paweł Wójcik, Andrea Bertoni, Guido Goldoni, Elsa Prada, Samuel D. Escribano

SciPost Phys. 18, 069 (2025) · published 25 February 2025 | · pdf

Full-shell hybrid nanowires (NWs), structures comprising a superconductor shell that encapsulates a semiconductor (SM) core, have attracted considerable attention in the search for Majorana zero modes (MZMs). However, the predicted Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in the SM is too small to achieve substantial topological minigaps. In addition, the SM wavefunction spreads all across the section of the nanowire, leading typically to a finite background of trivial subgap states with which MZMs may coexist. To overcome both problems, we explore the advantages of utilizing core-shell hole-band NWs as the SM part of a full-shell hybrid, with an insulating core and an active SM shell. In particular, we consider InP/GaSb core-shell NWs, which allow to exploit the unique characteristics of the III-V compound SM valence bands. We demonstrate that they exhibit a robust hole SOC that emerges from the combination of the intrinsic spin-orbit interaction of the SM active shell and the confinement effects of the nanostructure, thus depending mainly on SM and geometrical parameters. In other words, the SOC is intrinsic and does not rely on red electric fields, which are non-tunable in a full-shell hybrid geometry. As a result, core-shell SM hole-band NWs are found to be a promising candidate to explore Majorana physics in full-hell hybrid devices, addressing several challenges in the field.
Andreev bound states at boundaries of polarized 2D Fermi superfluids with s-wave pairing and spin-orbit coupling

Kadin Thompson, Joachim Brand, Ulrich Zuelicke

SciPost Phys. 14, 115 (2023) · published 16 May 2023 | · pdf

A topological superfluid phase characterized by an emergent chiral-p-wave pair potential is expected to form in a two-dimensional Fermi superfluid subject to s-wave pairing, spin-orbit coupling and a large-enough Zeeman splitting. Andreev bound states appear at phase boundaries, including Majorana zero modes whose existence is assured by the bulk-boundary correspondence principle. Here we study the physical properties of these subgap-energy bound states at step-like interfaces using the spin-resolved Bogoliubov-de$\,$Gennes mean-field formalism and assuming small spin-orbit coupling. Extending a recently developed spin-projection technique based on Feshbach partitioning [SciPost Phys. 5, 016 (2018)] combined with the Andreev approximation allows us to obtain remarkably simple analytical expressions for the bound-state energies as well as the majority and minority spin components of their wave functions. Besides the vacuum boundary, where a majority-spin Majorana excitation is encountered, we also consider the boundary between the topological and a nontopological superfluid phase that can appear in a coexistence scenario due to the first-order topological phase transition predicted for this system. At this superfluid-superfluid interface, we find a localized chiral Majorana mode hosted by the minority-spin sector. Our theory further predicts majority-spin subgap-energy bound states similar to those found at a Josephson junction between same-chirality p-wave superfluids. Their presence affects the Majorana mode due to a coupling of minority and majority spin sectors only in the small energy range where their spectra overlap. Our results may inform experimental efforts aimed at realizing and characterizing unconventional Majorana quasiparticles.
Sparks in the dark

Olga Sunneborn Gudnadottir, Axel Gallén, Giulia Ripellino, Jochen J. Heinrich, Raazesh Sainudiin, Rebeca Gonzalez Suarez

SciPost Phys. 18, 080 (2025) · published 4 March 2025 | · pdf

This study presents a novel method for the definition of signal regions in searches for new physics at collider experiments. By leveraging multi-dimensional histograms with precise arithmetic and utilizing the SparkDensityTree library, it is possible to identify high-density regions within the available phase space, potentially improving sensitivity to very small signals. Inspired by a search for dark mesons at the ATLAS experiment, CMS open data is used for this proof-of-concept intentionally targeting an already excluded signal. Signal regions are defined based on density estimates of signal and background. These preliminary regions align well with the physical properties of the signal while effectively rejecting background events.
A higher-order topological twist on cold-atom SO($5$) Dirac fields

Alejandro Bermudez, Daniel González-Cuadra, Simon Hands

SciPost Phys. 17, 003 (2024) · published 4 July 2024 | · pdf

Ultracold Fermi gases of spin-3/2 atoms provide a clean platform to realise SO($5$) models of 4-Fermi interactions in the laboratory. By confining the atoms in a two-dimensional Raman lattice, we show how this system can be used as a flexible quantum simulator of Dirac quantum field theories (QFTs) that combine Gross-Neveu and Thirring interactions with a higher-order topological twist. We show that the lattice model corresponds to a regularization of this QFT with an anisotropic twisted Wilson mass. This allows us to access higher-order topological states protected by a discrete SO($5$) group, a remnant of the continuous rotational symmetry of the 4-Fermi interactions that is not explicitly broken by the lattice discretization. Using large-$N$ methods, we show that the 4-Fermi interactions lead to a rich phase diagram with various competing fermion condensates. Our work opens a route for the implementation of correlated higher-order topological states with tunable interactions that has interesting connections to non-trivial relativistic QFTs of Dirac fermions in $D=2+1$ dimensions.
The complex Liouville string: The matrix integral

Scott Collier, Lorenz Eberhardt, Beatrix Mühlmann, Victor A. Rodriguez

SciPost Phys. 18, 154 (2025) · published 13 May 2025 | · pdf

We propose a duality between the complex Liouville string and a two-matrix integral. The complex Liouville string is defined by coupling two Liouville theories with complex central charges $c = 13 ± i \lambda$ on the worldsheet. The matrix integral is characterized by its spectral curve which allows us to compute the perturbative string amplitudes recursively via topological recursion. This duality constitutes a controllable instance of holographic duality. The leverage on the theory is provided by the rich analytic structure of the string amplitudes that we discussed in [arXiv:2409.18759] and allows us to perform numerous tests on the duality.
Extending the planar theory of anyons to quantum wire networks

Tomasz Maciazek, Mia Conlon, Gert Vercleyen, J. K. Slingerland

SciPost Phys. 18, 074 (2025) · published 28 February 2025 | · pdf

The braiding of the worldlines of particles restricted to move on a network (graph) is governed by the graph braid group, which can be strikingly different from the standard braid group known from two-dimensional physics. It has been recently shown that imposing the compatibility of graph braiding with anyon fusion for anyons exchanging at a single wire junction leads to new types of anyon models with the braiding exchange operators stemming from solutions of certain generalised hexagon equations. In this work, we establish these graph-braided anyon fusion models for general wire networks. We show that the character of braiding strongly depends on the graph-theoretic connectivity of the given network. In particular, we prove that triconnected networks yield the same braiding exchange operators as the planar anyon models. In contrast, modular biconnected networks support independent braiding exchange operators in different modules. Consequently, such modular networks may lead to more efficient topological quantum computer circuits. Finally, we conjecture that the graph-braided anyon fusion models will possess the (generalised) coherence property where certain polygon equations determine the braiding exchange operators for an arbitrary number of anyons. We also extensively study solutions to these polygon equations for chosen low-rank multiplicity-free fusion rings, including the Ising theory, quantum double of $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$, and Tambara-Yamagami models. We find numerous solutions that do not appear in the planar theory of anyons.
Nonlinearity of transparent SNS weak links decreases sharply with length

Valla Fatemi, Pavel D. Kurilovich, Anton R. Akhmerov, Bernard van Heck

SciPost Phys. 18, 091 (2025) · published 12 March 2025 | · pdf

Superconductor-normal material-superconductor (SNS) junctions are being integrated into microwave circuits for fundamental and applied research goals. The short junction limit is a common simplifying assumption for experiments with SNS junctions, but this limit constrains how small the nonlinearity of the microwave circuit can be. Here, we show that a finite length of the weak link strongly suppresses the nonlinearity compared to its zero-length limit -- the suppression can be up to a factor of ten even when the length remains shorter than the induced coherence length. We tie this behavior to the nonanalytic dependence of nonlinearity on length, which the critical current does not exhibit. Further, we identify additional experimentally observable consequences of nonzero length, and we conjecture that anharmonicity is bounded between zero and a maximally negative value for any non-interacting Josephson junction in the presence of time-reversal symmetry. We promote SNS junction length as a useful parameter for designing weakly nonlinear microwave circuits.
The two critical temperatures conundrum in La$_{1.83}$Sr$_{0.17}$CuO$_4$

Abhisek Samanta, Itay Mangel, Amit Keren, Daniel P. Arovas, Assa Auerbach

SciPost Phys. 16, 148 (2024) · published 5 June 2024 | · pdf

The in-plane and out-of-plane superconducting stiffness of ${\rm La}^{\vphantom{\dagger}}_{1.83}{\rm Sr}^{\vphantom{\dagger}}_{0.17}{\rm CuO}^{\vphantom{\dagger}}_4$ rings appear to vanish at different transition temperatures, which contradicts thermodynamical expectation. In addition, we observe a surprisingly strong dependence of the out-of-plane stiffness transition on sample width. With evidence from Monte Carlo simulations, this effect is explained by very small ratio $\alpha$ of inter-plane over intra-plane Josephson couplings. For three dimensional rings of millimeter dimensions, a crossover from layered three dimensional to quasi one dimensional behavior occurs at temperatures near the thermodynamic transition temperature ${T_{\rm c}}$, and the out-of-plane stiffness appears to vanish below ${T_{\rm c}}$ by a temperature shift of order $\alpha L_a/{\xi^{\parallel}}$, where $L_a/{\xi^{\parallel}}$ is the sample's width over coherence length. Including the effects of layer-correlated disorder, the measured temperature shifts can be fit by a value of $\alpha=4.1× 10^{-5}$, near ${T_{\rm c}}$, which is significantly lower than its previously measured value near zero temperature.
Intrinsically/purely gapless-SPT from non-invertible duality transformations

Linhao Li, Masaki Oshikawa, Yunqin Zheng

SciPost Phys. 18, 153 (2025) · published 13 May 2025 | · pdf

The Kennedy-Tasaki (KT) transformation was used to construct the gapped symmetry protected topological (SPT) phase from the symmetry breaking phase with open boundary condition, and was generalized in our proceeding work [Phys. Rev. B 108, 214429 (2023)] on a ring by sacrificing the unitarity, and should be understood as a non-invertible duality transformation. In this work, we further apply the KT transformation to systematically construct gapless symmetry protected topological phases. This construction reproduces the known examples of (intrinsically) gapless SPT where the non-trivial topological features come from the gapped sectors by means of decorated defect constructions. We also construct new (intrinsically) purely gapless SPTs where there are no gapped sectors, hence are beyond the decorated defect construction. This construction elucidates the field theory description of the various gapless SPTs, and can also be applied to analytically study the stability of various gapless SPT models on the lattice under certain symmetric perturbations.
Wilson loops and spherical branes

Davide Astesiano, Pieter Bomans, Fridrik Freyr Gautason, Valentina Giangreco M. Puletti, Alexia Nix

SciPost Phys. 18, 050 (2025) · published 12 February 2025 | · pdf

We study $\frac{1}{2}$-BPS Wilson loop operators in maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory on $d$-dimensional spheres. Their vacuum expectation values can be computed at large $N$ through supersymmetric localisation. The holographic duals are given by back-reacted spherical D-branes. For $d≠ 4$, the resulting theories are non-conformal and correspondingly, the dual geometries do not possess an asymptotic AdS region. The main aim of this work is to compute the holographic Wilson loops by evaluating the partition function of a probe fundamental string and M2-brane in the dual geometry, focusing on the next-to-leading order. Along the way, we highlight a variety of issues related to the presence of a non-constant dilaton. In particular, the structure of the divergences of the one-loop partition functions takes a non-universal form in contrast to examples available in the literature. We devise a general framework to treat the divergences, successfully match the sub-leading scaling with $\lambda$ and $N$, and provide a first step towards obtaining the numerical prefactor.

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