1303.2998 (Bitan Roy et al.)

$Z_2$ index for gapless fermionic modes in the vortex core of three
dimensional paired Dirac fermions    [PDF]

Bitan Roy, Pallab Goswami

We consider the gapless modes along the vortex line of the fully gapped, momentum independent paired states of three dimensional Dirac fermions. For this we require the solution of fermion zero modes of the corresponding two dimensional problem in the presence of a point vortex, in the plane perpendicular to the vortex line. Based on the spectral symmetry requirement for the existence of the zero mode, we identify the generalized Jackiw-Rossi Hamiltonians for different paired states. A four dimensional generalized Jackiw-Rossi Hamiltonian possesses spectral symmetry with respect to an anti-unitary operator, and gives rise to a single zero mode only for the odd vorticity, which is described by a $Z_2$ index. In the presence of generic perturbations such as chemical potential, Dirac mass and Zeeman coupling, the two dimensional problem for the odd parity topological superconducting state maps onto two copies of generalized Jackiw-Rossi Hamiltonian, and consequently an odd vortex binds two Majorana fermions. In contrast there are no zero energy states for the topologically trivial s-wave superconductor, in the presence of any chiral symmetry breaking perturbation in the particle-hole channel, such as Dirac mass. We show that the number of one dimensional dispersive modes along the vortex line is also determined by the index of the associated two dimensional problem. For an axial superfluid state in the presence of various perturbations, we discuss the consequences of the $Z_2$ index on the anomaly equations.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1303.2998