Parafermions in Interacting Nanowire Bundle

Abstract

We propose a scheme to induce $\mathbb{Z}_3$ parafermion modes, exotic zero-energy bound states that possess non-Abelian statistics. We consider a minimal setup consisting of a bundle of four tunnel coupled nanowires hosting spinless electrons that interact strongly with each other. The hallmark of our setup is that it relies only on simple one-dimensional wires, uniform magnetic fields, and strong interactions, but does not require the presence of superconductivity or exotic quantum Hall phases.