Electron correlation effects in superconducting nanowires in and out of equilibrium

Abstract

One-dimensional nanowires with strong spin-orbit coupling and proximity-induced superconductivity are predicted to exhibit topological superconductivity with condensed-matter analogues to Majorana fermions. Here, the nonequilibrium Green's function approach with the generalized Kadanoff-Baym ansatz is employed to study the electron-correlation effects and their role in the topological superconducting phase in and out of equilibrium. Electron-correlation effects are found to affect the transient signatures regarding the zero-energy Majorana states, when the superconducting nanowire is subjected to external perturbations such as magnetic-field quenching, laser-pulse excitation, and coupling to biased normal-metal leads.