title: Strong localization of Majorana end States in chains of magnetic adatoms.
abstract: A recent experiment [Nadj-Perge et al, Science 346, 602 (2014)] gives possible evidence for Majorana bound states in chains of magnetic adatoms placed on a superconductor. While many features of the observed end states are naturally interpreted in terms of Majorana states, their strong localization remained puzzling. We consider a linear chain of Anderson impurities on a superconductor as a minimal model and treat it largely analytically within mean-field theory. We explore the phase diagram, the subgap excitation spectrum, and the Majorana wave functions. Owing to a strong velocity renormalization, the latter are localized on a scale which is parametrically small compared to the coherence length of the host superconductor.
authors: Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems and Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors: Yang
authors: Y
authors: Peng
authors: Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems and Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors: Falko
authors: F
authors: Pientka
authors: Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.
authors: Leonid I
authors: LI
authors: Glazman
authors: Dahlem Center for Complex Quantum Systems and Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
authors: Felix
authors: F
authors: von Oppen