Topology by Dissipation: Majorana Bosons in Metastable Quadratic Markovian Dynamics

Vincent P. Flynn, Emilio Cobanera, and Lorenza Viola

Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 245701 – Published 10 December 2021

Abstract

Majorana bosons, that is, tight bosonic analogs of the Majorana fermionic quasiparticles of condensed-matter physics, are forbidden for gapped free bosonic matter within a standard Hamiltonian scenario. We show how the interplay between dynamical metastability and nontrivial bulk topology makes their emergence possible in noninteracting bosonic chains undergoing Markovian dissipation. This leads to a distinctive form of topological metastability, whereby a conserved Majorana boson localized on one edge is paired, in general, with a symmetry generator localized on the opposite edge. We argue that Majorana bosons are robust against disorder and identifiable by signatures in the zero-frequency steady-state power spectrum. Our results suggest that symmetry-protected topological phases for free bosons may arise in transient metastable regimes, which persist over practical timescales.

Received 7 April 2021
Revised 28 July 2021
Accepted 25 October 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.245701

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Exotic phases of matter Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics Open quantum systems Quantum statistical mechanics

Statistical Physics & Thermodynamics

Authors & Affiliations

Vincent P. Flynn ¹, Emilio Cobanera^2,1, and Lorenza Viola ¹

¹Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, 6127 Wilder Laboratory, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA
²Department of Mathematics and Physics, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, 100 Seymour Road, Utica, New York 13502, USA