Majorana Modes in Driven-Dissipative Atomic Superfluids With Zero Chern Number

Understand

We investigate dissipation-induced p-wave paired states of fermions in two dimensions and show the existence of spatially separated Majorana zero modes in a phase with vanishing Chern number.

• We construct an explicit and natural model of a dissipative vortex that traps a single of these modes, and establish its topological origin by mapping the problem to a chiral one-dimensional wire where we observe a non-equilibrium topological phase transition characterized by an abrupt change of a topological invariant (winding number).
• We show that the existence of a single Majorana zero mode in the vortex core is intimately tied to the dissipative nature of our model.
• Engineered dissipation opens up possibilities for experimentally realizing such states with no Hamiltonian counterpart.