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mapping to a compass model, we demonstrate that the interaction induces a Majorana stripe order spontaneously
breaking translational and rotational symmetries. Away from neutrality, a mean-field theory suggests a quantum
critical point induced by hybridization, beyond which a Dirac cone appears in the excitation spectrum.
Topological states of matter have been the focus of research ing, we also investigate the system away from neutrality by a
during the last decade [13]. In this rapid development, bulk- mean-field (MF) theory. We find a quantum critical point in-
boundary correspondence has been a central guiding prin- duced by Majorana hybridization, beyond which a Dirac cone
ciple, which predicts low-energy modes at the interface be- appears in the excitation spectrum.
tween topologically distinct states. The same principle also At the non-interacting level, the system is described by the
Fu-Kane Hamiltonian [12] H FK = 21 d 2 r r H FK (r)r with
applies to topological defects (such as dislocations and su-
T
perconducting vortices) in topological matters, because they r = (r, r, r, r ) being the Nambu spinor of the
can be regarded as generalized interfaces bordering on nor- ()
electronic operators r ( =, ) and
mal states [48]. Of particular interest are Majorana zero
modes (MZMs), which are predicted to emerge at vortices in H FK (r) = z ivF F + Re (r) x + Im (r) y, (1)
2D topological superconductors, because of their potential for
quantum computation [918]. Meanwhile, designing lattices where () is the Pauli matrix in the spin (Nambu) basis,
of Majorana fermions out of MZMs is fascinating in its own F is the chemical potential, (r) is the proximity-induced
right, because interaction between MZMs may lead to novel pair potential, and vF is velocity of the surface Dirac mode
phases and critical phenomena [1924]. when = 0. The distribution and the structure of vortices
In this Letter, we study a square lattice of interacting MZMs, are encoded in (r) and MZMs can be obtained by solving
which may emerge at vortices in 2D topological superfluid and Eq. (1) [21]. The neutrality condition F = 0 has a signifi-
superconductor [2527], as was predicted for the A phase of cant consequence on the emergent symmetry of an effective
3 He and Sr RuO [2830]. Here, we consider a surface of a
2 4 Hamiltonian of MZMs. When satisfied, an artificial time-
3D strong topological insulator (TI) subject to superconducting reversal symmetry eff = x x K (K is the complex conju-
proximity effect, motivated by the proposed tunability of the gation) with 2eff = 1 emerges in addition to the particle-hole
system between weak- and strong-coupling regimes [21, 22]. symmetry = y y K inherent to the Bogoliubov-de Gennes
Our choice of this platform is also motivated by recent ex- formalism. The consequence is that MZMs do not mix differ-
perimental progress [31]. In a seminal work [12], Fu and ent spins, and those bounded to vortices are spin-down states:
Kane predicted that the superconducting topological surface r = ur ,r + ur ,r [22]. Because eff r 1 eff = r and eff
state resembles a spinless px ipy superconductor. When an is antiunitary, single-body hybridizations i r r0 are prohibited
Abrikosov vortex lattice is induced by a magnetic field, MZMs at F = 0 between MZMs. For an interacting many-body sys-
are expected to emerge at vortices [5], leading to a novel lattice tem, this suggests that the neutrality condition corresponds to
of Majorana fermions at low energies. Here we assume addi- the strong coupling limit for the Majorana modes. Assuming
tional conditions, such as strong fourfold lattice anisotropy, to the simplest, most local and quartic interaction of the vortex
stabilize a square vortex lattice as in LuNi2 B2 C [32]. Besides Majorana modes on the square lattice, we consider
being one of the simplest structures, the reason for considering
the square lattice is that a minimal Hamiltonian in the neutrality Hg = g 1 2 3 4 , (2)
condition [21, 22] admits a faithful spin representation. This
allows for employing a powerful quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) where r is the Majorana fermion operator at site r satisfying
method [33] to investigate thermodynamic properties. In par- r = r and { r, r0 } = 2r,r0 and the summation runs over
ticular, we find a novel Majorana stripe phase. We show elementary plaquettes of the square lattice; 1 4 are four
that a duality transformation provides an essential insight to corners of a plaquette, 2 = 1 b, 3 = 1 + a, and 4 =
elucidate the nature of this phase. With this solid understand- 3 b, with a and b the primitive lattice vectors [Fig. 1(a)].
2
Away from the neutrality condition, where hybridization terms (a) (c)
2 2 J
are allowed, we consider H = Hg + Ht with
g 1
J 1
P P
Ht = it r rb + (1)ry r r+a ,
(3)
2 2
J
r
b 1 1
which has a gauge-invariant flux per plaquette because of the
underlying vortices [21]. By continuity, we expect |t| |g|
a J
(b) (d) J
for small F . In other words, the Fermi level is expected to
serve as an experimental control of |t/g| [21]. We assume
g, t > 0 below unless otherwise mentioned. 2 J P
We start from the many-body Majorana Hamiltonian in the
neutrality condition, H = Hg . Assuming a periodic (open) 1
J P 2b
boundary condition in the a (b) direction, we map it to a
nCM a
quantum spin model by using a 2D Jordan-Wigner (JW) trans-
formation. We define a spinless complex fermion cr =
2 (r ,1 + i r ,2 ) by introducing pairings in the whole lattice,
1
FIG. 1. MZMs and the JW transformation. (a) Square lattice
where r is the position of a dimer combining r ,1 and r ,2 at of MZM, where plaquettes and directed links from site r to site r 0
its end points [Fig. 1(b)]. Assuming the column-major index represent the interaction g and the hybridization it r r0 , respectively.
nCM (r ) for dimers in Fig. 1(b), the transformation is cr cr = (b) JW transformation of Hg with the column-major site ordering
y nCM . Ellipses show pairing of MZMs with crosses representing
2 1 + r and cr = 2 nCM (r0 )<nCM (r ) r0 r + i r ,
1 z 1 z x
where ( = x, y, z) are the Pauli matrices. Depending on spins. (c) A plaquette term involving two (four) dimers is transformed
0 = r + 2b (here J = P =
to the Ising (four-spin) coupling, where r
the number of dimers involved in a plaquette interaction (i.e.,
g). (d) Lattice of spins.
two or four), the interaction is transformed in a different way
[Fig. 1(c)]:
However, we note that a long-range order of z of any kind is
r ,2 r ,1 r +a,2 r +a,1 = rz1 rz1 +a, impossible at T > 0 because of the presence of the gauge-like
spin
r0 ,1 r ,2 r0 +a,1 r +a,2 = rx rx0 rx +a rx0 +a, 1D symmetries; the string operator Oh (y) = rx rx =(r x ,y) ,
(4)
which flips z eigenvalues of all spins in any horizontal chain,
where r 0 = r + 2b. The string factor does not appear in
commutes with Hg, . As a generalized Elitzurs theorem,
either case because any plaquette operator comprises products these symmetries reduce the effective dimensionality of the
of two Majorana operators at neighboring sites in the same order parameter field z from 2D to 1D [37]. Hence, the
column, and such composite objects behave as bosons. We corresponding 1D physics may explain the broad peak of C at
obtain high T, but not the transition itself.
! To elucidate the nature of the low-T phase and the transi-
Hg, = J rz rz +a P rx , (5) tion, we invoke a duality mapping. With a two-step Kramers-
r r Wannier transformation [38], we show that Hg, (hence, Hg )
is dual to two decoupled copies of a square-lattice quan-
with J = P = g, which combines the Ising coupling J on the
tum compass model [39], which was investigated in depth
horizontal bonds and a transverse four-spin term P associated
in various contexts [4050]. First, we define spins at the
with plaquettes ( ) of spins [Fig. 1(b)].
midpoint of every horizontal link. With the row-major
Remarkably, in the spin representation (5), we can apply
site ordering nRM (r ) in Fig. 3(a), the first transforma-
a bosonic QMC method [33] to study the thermodynamic
tion is rz = rz rz +a , rx = nRM (r0 )nRM (r ) rx0 where
properties of MZMs without a negative sign problem. The
directed-loop algorithm [34, 35] in the x basis is used in our r = r + a2 . The J and P terms become an effective mag-
simulations. To reduce finite size effects, we use a trick of ficti- netic field and a four-spin term for spins, respectively. We
tious MZMs to simulate the lattice of Majorana fermions com- find that the latter does not mix spins in even and odd
prising an even number of plaquettes in the b direction [36]. columns in the dual lattice, e.g., rx rx +a rx +2b rx +a+2b =
We investigated the spin lattices of L L up to L = 60, which rx a rx +a rx a+2b rx +a+2b [Fig. 3(d)]. Consequently, the dual
corresponds to to L (2L 1) MZMs. Hamiltonian Hg, = Hg, e + H o is composed of decoupled
g,
Figure 2(a) shows the specific heat C = (1/L 2 )hHg, i/T. even and odd components,
In addition to the broad peak around T g, it exhibits a e(o)
size-dependent sharp anomaly at T/g 0.25, indicating a Hg, = J rz P rx rx +2a rx +2b rx +2a+2b , (6)
r even (odd) columns
second-order transition. This observation points to a symme-
try breaking phase at low T, which contradicts with the pre- also known as the Xu-Moore model [46, 47]. In the second
vious conjecture of a topological quantum critical point [21]. step, introducing spins at the midpoint of each vertical link
3
0.25 3.2
0.6 L= 20 0.6
(b) r+2b r+a+2b (c)
3
L= 30 0.5 0.2
0.5 L= 40 2.8
0.4
L= 60 0.3
2.6
0.4 0.15
0.2
FIG. 2. QMC results in the spin representation (5) with J = P = g in the L L lattice with the fictitious MZM trick [36]. (a) Specific heat C,
(b) the order parameter h| D |i of the Majorana stripe state, and (c) the Binder parameter. The inset in (b) illustrates the local order parameter
D (r ) (8) and its relation with a pair of Majorana plaquettes.
(a) n (c)
(r , r + 2b) for spins, the transformation is rx = rx rx +2b , RM
rz = nCM (r0 ) nCM (r ) rz0 with r = r + b. nCM (r ) is the J P (d)
column-major ordering for spins [Fig. 3(b)]. This transfor-
mation preserves the decoupling of Hg, e and H o , transform-
g,
J
ing each into the quantum compass model defined as follows
P
on a square lattice with an enlarged unit cell. We obtain [see
Figs. 3(c)3(e)],
e(o)
Hg, = P rx rx +2a J rz rz +2b , (7) (b) (e) P
r even (odd) column
J
with the total Hamiltonian Hg, = + e
Hg, o .
Hg,
The above duality transformation provides a useful in- (even)
J
sight into the problem of H = Hg . The most crucial in- (odd)
put from the compass model is that it undergoes a nematic (even)
(odd)
transition at finite temperature, which belongs to the Ising P
universality class [40, 43, 44]. Below Tc , while any spin-
spin correlation function such as h rx rx0 i and h rz rz0 i is
FIG. 3. Two-step duality transformation, introducing (a) spins
short-ranged at T > 0, the Z2 reflection symmetry x z and (b) spins. (c) The J term is transformed to the interaction in
(a b) in the spin (real) space is spontaneously bro- the vertical direction rz rz +2b . (d) The P term (highlighted filled
ken, which can be detected by a directional order parame- rectangle) is transformed first into a four-spin coupling for spins
ter D (r ) = rx rx +2a rz rz +2b [39]. To translate this (round rectangle) and then to the Ising interaction in the horizontal
back to the language of Majorana fermions, we examine the direction rx rx +2a . (e) Resulting decoupled copies of the quantum
correspondence of the operators between the two representa- compass model for spins (shifted for clarity).
tions. First, the even-odd decomposition corresponds to the
geometrical checkerboard decomposition of Hg . Defining HgA system, this is associated with the plaquette interaction g. As
and HgB as composed of quartic interactions associated with shown in Fig. 4(b), the even-odd decoupling means that the
one sublattice of the checkerboard decomposition (A) and its energy-density wave order emerges in the two sectors inde-
complement (B), respectively, we find Hg = HgA + HgB [see pendently (Z2 Z2 symmetry breaking), resulting in fourfold
Fig. 4(a)] and [HgA, HgB ] = 0; HgA corresponds to Hg, e or H o
g, degenerate ground states modulo 1D symmetries, which we
B
and Hg does to the other. Moreover, as demonstrated in the call the Majorana stripe order.
sequence of transformations, there is one-to-one correspon- We confirm this by evaluating the order parameter with
dence between the quartic Majorana plaquette operators and QMC in the -spin representation. Figure 2(b) shows h| D |i
with D = N 1 r0 D (r ), where the summation runs over
the bond operators in the compass model. As illustrated in
e(o) even or odd columns, N is a proper normalization [36], and
Fig. 4(a), each Ising-like bond interaction in Hg, (7) corre-
sponds to a plaquette term that it overlaps. In this sense, the
D (r ) = rz +a rz +2a rx +2b rx rx +a+2b rx +a . (8)
nematic order quantified by D can be understood as spon-
taneous energy density modulation. In the Majorana fermion We find that h|D|i becomes nearly size-independent at low
4
(a) X M
J J g (a) t/g = 0.2 t/g = 0.8
g 2
P P g D>0 1
T "k
0
-1
T, confirming the Majorana stripe phase. The nonmonotonic increasing hybridization. Our calculation thus points to the
T-dependence for small L is suggested to be a finite-size ef- existence of a quantum critical point characterized by Dirac
fect due to the open boundary condition in the y direction. fermion excitations when t tc .
Figure 2(c) shows the Binder parameter U4,D = h D 4 i/h D2 i 2 ,
In summary, the square-lattice Majorana Hamiltonian Ht +
which exhibits crossing for different L at Tc /g 0.25(1), in Hg , which may have an experimental realization in the hybrid
agreement with the temperature of the divergent peak in C. of a 3D strong TI and a superconductor, induces a stripe order
Finally, we address the effect of hybridization, Ht (3), on the that breaks the translational and rotational symmetries in the
Majorana stripe phase. The finite temperature transition also strong coupling regime g t. Our QMC simulations as well
implies a first-order transition line in the extended T-g phase as the duality mapping (via the JW transformation) to the com-
diagram [Fig. 5(a)], where g P J denotes the perturbation pass model provide a solid confirmation of this phenomenon
that explicitly breaks the translational symmetry; see Fig. 1(c). in the strong coupling limit. We note that Affleck et al. also
Since the QMC method cannot be applied to Hg + Ht due to investigated the same model recently, where it was suggested
the sign problem, we employ the MF method to examine the the transition t = tc belongs to a supersymmetric universality
discontinuous transition at T = 0. Figure 5(b) shows the order class based on a renormalization group theory [24]. Our ap-
parameter D = h D i as a function of g for varying values proach coming from the strong coupling is complementary to
of hybridization t. A clear jump of D as g 0 for small t their weak-coupling instability analysis. We hope that it will
indicates that the discontinuous transition persists even in the trigger an experimental effort in the search for intriguing phase
presence of a weak hybridization. This in turn implies that the transitions in the system of interacting Majorana modes.
finite-T transition remains stable for small t. The hybridization We are grateful to Sharmistha Sahoo for useful discussions
induces a coupling between A and B subsystems, which may at the early stage of this project, and to Cristian Batista for
modify the universality class [51]. As t increases, the jump D valuable discussions. The numerical simulations in this work
vanishes at a critical point tc 0.65g. The MF band structure in part utilized the facilities of the Supercomputer Center,
of Majorana fermions at g 0 is shown in Fig. 5(c) for ISSP, the University of Tokyo. Y.K. acknowledges support
t/g = 0.2, 0.8. The spectrum in the stripe phase (t < tc ) is by JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research under Grant
gapped with gap = D, where the Chern number C is 0 [36]. No. JP16H02206. A.F. acknowledge support by JSPS Grants-
The gap is reduced with increasing t and vanishes for t > tc in-Aid for Scientific Research under Grant No. 15K05141.
as shown in Fig. 5(d). Assuming that the critical temperature J.C.Y.T. is supported by the NSF under Grant No. DMR-
Tc gap , our result suggests that Tc moves toward T = 0 with 1653535.
5
2
D = rz +a rz +2a rx +2b rx rx +a+2b rx +a , (S1)
La (Lb 1) r
even (or odd)
where La and Lb are the size of the lattice of spins in the horizontal and vertical directions, respectively.
b fictitious MZMs
No Ising coupling J here
(a) (b) (c)
a
J P
J P
JW trans.
P J P
J n CM
(d)
2b
a r
FIG. S1. (a) Lattice of Majorana fermions with an odd number of rows in the b direction. (b) JW transformation. (c) Lattice of spins. (d)
Illustration of the order parameter D [Eq. (S1)] and the relation with the representation in the Majorana fermion system.
Here we present a zero-temperature mean-field calculation of the Majorana stripe phase. To consider the more general
situations, we introduce two coupling constants g and g 0 for plaquettes on the even and odd-numbered rows, respectively, of the
square lattice. The difference g g g 0 serves as a symmetry-breaking field. As a result of this explicit breaking of translation
symmetry along the vertical direction, the unit cell is doubled. We thus label the Majorana fermions as r,s , where s = 1, 2 is
the sublattice index and r = ma + n(2b), with m, n being integers, denotes the Bravais lattice points. The interacting Majorana
fermions are described by the following Hamiltonian
H = g r,1 r,2 r+a,1 r+a,2 + g 0 r,2 r2b,1 r+a,2 r+a2b,1 (S2)
r r
+it r,1 r,2 + r,2 r2b,1 + it r,1 r+a,1 r,2 r+a,2
r r
We first consider the most general mean-field decouplings of the quartic terms assuming no further breaking of the translation
symmetry. Direct numerical calculation nonetheless shows that the diagonal term hr,1 r+a,2 i vanishes identically in the self-
consistent solution. We thus consider the following nonzero mean-field averages:
HMF = 2ig r,1 r,2 2ig 00 r,2 r2b,1 + N(g2 + g 002 )
r r
+i(g + g )0
r,2 r+a,2 + i(g + g 0) 0 r,1 r+a,1 N(g + g 0) 0 (S4)
r r
+it r,1 r,2 + r,2 r2b,1 + it r,1 r+a,1 r,2 r+a,2
r r
We next perform Fourier transform r,s = 1 k,s eik(r+ds ) , where N/2 is the number of unit cells and the basis vectors
k
N /2
are d1,2 = b/2. After introducing a basis vector k (k k )T the mean-field Hamiltonian can be expressed as HMF =
k k H MF k , where the matrix H MF is given by
Here x,y,z are the Pauli matrices, and we have used the relation 0 = obtained from numerical solutions to simplify the
expression. The mean-field spectrum is obtained by solving the above Hamiltonian self-consistently with Eq. (S3).
Figure S3 shows the order parameters as a function of the ratio g 0/g with a fixed g = 1 for two different hybridization constant
t = 0.01 and t = 0.1. The stripe order parameter D defined in the main text is given by D = 0. For small hopping
t = 0.01 [Fig. S3(a)], the stripe order D remains finite as the system approaches the symmetric limit g 0 g. This result indicates
the existence of a zero-temperature first-order transition at g = 0, discussed in the main text. As the hopping increases, the
discontinuity in D at g = 0 is also reduced and eventually vanishes when t > tc 0.65. The mean-field band structure
of Majorana fermions is shown in Fig. S4 for various ratios of g 0/g with other parameters g = 1qand t = 0.1. Expressing
H MF (k) = m=x,y,z am (k) m , the eigenenergy of the mean-field Hamiltonian is given by k = a2x + ay2 + az2 , and always
appears in pairs. The energy gap corresponds to the minimum of gap = min(k+ k ) occurs at k = (0, 0), (, 0), (0, ), and
(, ). In the symmetric point g = g 0, the spectral gap is related to the stripe order parameter
The energy gap as a function of the hybridization is shown in Fig. 5 of the main text. Importantly, the closing of the gap gap = 0
for t > tc gives rise to a critical state with low-energy Dirac fermions; see Fig. S4.
t
r, 1
r, 2
2b
g
a
t=0.2 t=0.8
1 1
(a) (b)
0.8 0.8
0.4 0.4
0.2 0 0.2 0
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
0 0
g /g g /g
FIG. S3. Mean-field order parameters , 0 , and as a function of the ratio g 0 /g for (a) t = 0.2 and (b) t = 0.8. The coupling g is fixed g = 1.
3 3
g0 = 0 g 0 = 0.4
2 2
1 1
"k 0 0
-1 -1
-2 -2
-3 -3
3 3
g 0 = 0.8 g0 = 1
2 2
1 1
"k 0 0
-1 -1
-2 -2
-3 -3
X M X M
ky
(0, ) (, )
kx
(0, 0) (, 0)
FIG. S5. The vector field in the vicinity of the four original Dirac nodes: m (k x , k y , Cz ) around (0, 0), m (k x , k y , Cz ) around (, 0),
m (k x , k y , Cz ) around (0, ), and m (k x , k y , Cz ) around (, ).
Cx Cy Cz cos k x /(k+ )3 . Consequently, the Chern number is sphere, while that around the other two nodes is mapped to the
zero, indicating a topologically trivial gapped phase. This re- south hemisphere; see Fig. S5. Within each hemisphere, the
sult can also be understood by noting that the m-vector maps winding number is determined by the in-plane vorticity of the
the Brillouin zone to a unit sphere, and the Chern number is two nodes. In our case, the two Dirac nodes within the same
simply the winding number of this mapping. In the gapped hemisphere have opposite vorticity 1, hence the net winding
phase (say Cz = gD > 0), the neighborhood around the origi- number is zero.
nal Dirac nodes (0, 0) and (, 0) is mapped to the north hemi-