Chiral Majorana edge states in the vortex core of a p+ip Fermi superfluid

Abstract

We study Majorana modes in the vortex core of a two-dimensional $p+ip$ Fermi superfluid interacting with a Bose-Einstein condensate. Under a repulsive $s$-wave contact interaction between fermions and bosons, fermions are depleted from the vortex core when the bosonic density becomes sufficiently high. This gives rise to a dynamically driven local interface that emerges between fermions and bosons, along which chiral Majorana edge states should appear. We examine in detail the variation of vortex-core structures as well as the formation of chiral Majorana edge states with increasing bosonic density, where the circulation of the vortex plays an important role. Whereas both the Majorana modes and the vortex-core structures can be controlled and manipulated by tuning the bosonic density and the Bose-Fermi interaction strength, our study presents an illuminating example of how topological defects can be dynamically controlled in the context of cold-atomic gases.