Published October 2012 | Version v1
Journal article

Ettingshausen effect due to Majorana modes

  • 1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California at Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521 (United States)
  • 2. Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
  • 3. School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, 837 State Street, Atlanta, GA 30332 (United States)

Description

The presence of Majorana zero-energy modes at vortex cores in a topological superconductor implies that each vortex carries an extra entropy s0, given by (kB/2)ln 2, that is independent of temperature. By utilizing this special property of Majorana modes, the edges of a topological superconductor can be cooled (or heated) by the motion of the vortices across the edges. As vortices flow in the transverse direction with respect to an external imposed supercurrent, due to the Lorentz force, a thermoelectric effect analogous to the Ettingshausen effect is expected to occur between opposing edges. We propose an experiment to observe this thermoelectric effect, which could directly probe the intrinsic entropy of Majorana zero-energy modes. (paper)

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/14/10/105005

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
New Journal of Physics
Journal Volume
14
Journal Issue
10
Journal Page Range
[17 p.]
ISSN
1367-2630

INIS

Country of Publication
United Kingdom
Country of Input or Organization
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
INIS RN
44046891
Subject category
S71: CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; S75: CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY;
Descriptors DEI
ENTROPY; ETTINGHAUSEN EFFECT; LORENTZ FORCE; MAJORANA THEORY; SUPERCONDUCTORS; TOPOLOGY; VORTEX FLOW
Descriptors DEC
FLUID FLOW; MATHEMATICS; PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES