Effective long-range pairing and hopping in topological nanowires weakly coupled to s -wave superconductors

Abstract

In this Letter, we first formulate an effective theory, which generally captures long-range proximity effects of a surface system weakly coupled to an s-wave superconductor. The long-range proximity effects include both the emergent long-range pairing and hopping interactions in the surface system. We then model the Rashba spin-orbit-coupled nanowire in proximity with an s-wave superconductor by taking into account the emergent nonlocal effects in the weak-coupling limit. In this limit the induced superconducting pair potential is found much smaller than that of the host superconductor, which is in good agreement with recent experiments. Compared with the previously considered strong coupling limit with local proximity effects, the long-range interactions can significantly modify the topological phase diagram, and considerably lower the threshold magnetic field for the emergence of Majorana zero modes.