Majorana nanowires, Kitaev chains, and spin models

Abstract

Motivated by the fact that the idealized Kitaev chain toy model and the experimental semiconductor-superconductor Majorana nanowire can both host the Majorana zero modes, we theoretically investigate the question to what extent the two models are equivalent or similar, using the perspective of the corresponding dual spin models for both. We start with the duality between the Kitaev chain and the transverse-field XY spin model through the Jordan-Wigner transformation with the goal of establishing the connection between the Kitaev chain and the nanowire. By applying the Jordan-Wigner transformation to the nanowire, we find that the corresponding bosonic spin model is a generalized spin cluster model, containing 3-spin and 4-spin terms, with staggered couplings. By projecting out the upper band of the bare semiconductor with higher energy, we obtain an effective low-energy spinless system from the spinful nanowire system deep in the topological regime. Finally, we establish the connection between the Kitaev chain and Majorana nanowire by showing that the spinless Kitaev chain can be viewed as the first-order approximation of the spinful Majorana nanowire deep in the topological regime.