title: Probing the non-locality of Majorana fermions via quantum correlations.
abstract: Majorana fermions (MFs) are exotic particles that are their own anti-particles. Recently, the search for the MFs occurring as quasi-particle excitations in solid-state systems has attracted widespread interest, because of their fundamental importance in fundamental physics and potential applications in topological quantum computation based on solid-state devices. Here we study the quantum correlations between two spatially separate quantum dots induced by a pair of MFs emerging at the two ends of a semiconductor nanowire, in order to develop a new method for probing the MFs. We find that without the tunnel coupling between these paired MFs, quantum entanglement cannot be induced from an unentangled (i.e., product) state, but quantum discord is observed due to the intrinsic nonlocal correlations of the paired MFs. This finding reveals that quantum discord can indeed demonstrate the intrinsic non-locality of the MFs formed in the nanowire. Also, quantum discord can be employed to discriminate the MFs from the regular fermions. Furthermore, we propose an experimental setup to measure the onset of quantum discord due to the nonlocal correlations. Our approach provides a new, and experimentally accessible, method to study the Majorana bound states by probing their intrinsic non-locality signature.
authors.affiliation: 1] Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Beijing 100084, China [2] College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Dezhou University, Dezhou 253023, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Center for Controlled Quantum Systems and Department of Physics and Engineering Physics, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, USA.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: Hai-Qing
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Beijing 100084, China.
authors.forename: J Q
authors.initials: JQ
authors.lastname: You