Fermion parity switches of the ground state of Majorana billiards

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.235455

Majorana billiards are finitely sized, arbitrarily shaped superconducting islands that host Majorana bound states. We study the fermion-parity switches of the ground state of Majorana billiards. In particular, we study the density and statistics of these fermion-parity switches as a function of applied magnetic field and chemical potential. We derive formulas that specify how the average density of fermion-parity switches depends on the geometrical shape of the billiard. Moreover, we show how oscillations around this average value are determined by the classical periodic orbits of the billiard. Finally, we find that the statistics of the spacings of these fermion-parity switches are universal and are described by a random matrix ensemble, the choice of which depends on the antiunitary symmetries of the system in its normal state. We thus demonstrate that “one can hear (information about) the shape of a Majorana billiard” by investigating its “fermion-parity switch spectrum.”