Robust cusps near topological phase transitions: Signatures of Majorana fermions and interactions with fluctuations

Abstract

In this paper, we study nonanalyticities or cusps near a topological phase transition driven by changes of global topologies rather than by the formation of conventional (local) order. The particular phase transitions between topologically ordered superfluids and nontopological superfluids studied in this paper are always accompanied by the emergence or disappearance of Majorana boundary modes, while at the critical point these boundary modes are liberated and evolve into the bulk. Proliferation of massless Majorana fermions in the bulk at the transition leaves unique thermodynamic signatures. For a very broad class of isotropic superfluids or superconductors (with or without time-reversal symmetry), the resultant transitions in $d$ spatial dimensions will be of $(d+1)\mathrm{th}$ order. The $(d+1)\mathrm{th}$-order derivatives of the grand potential are either discontinuous in even dimensions or logarithmically divergent in odd dimensions. Bulk quantities such as compressibility can develop a cusp along with the change of topology of the superfluids. We compute quantitatively the cusp structures and further investigate the effect of interactions induced by massive fluctuation fields. These cusps are robust as direct manifestations of Majorana fermions and these interactions, and can be potentially considered as an alternative approach for detecting these puzzling particles.