Expectation value of the edge Majorana fermion in an interacting fermion chain

Abstract

The expectation value of the edge Majorana operator is calculated for the one-dimensional model of spinless fermions with nearest-neighbor interactions and with open boundary conditions. The consideration is performed for the regime of the topological insulator (gapped bulk excitations and edge modes inside the gap), and for the normal metal regime (gapless bulk excitations). We show that the expectation value of the edge Majorana operator can be formed by two contributions, from the bulk states, and from the localized edge modes.