Time-reversal invariant vortex in topological superconductors and gravitational <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi mathvariant="double-struck">Z</mml:mi> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:msub> </mml:math> topology
We study a time-reversal invariant vortex, namely a spin vortex, in helical superconductors by focusing on its emergent gravitational structure. The topology of the time-reversal invariant vortex is classified by a $\mathbb{Z}_2$ invariant: helical Majorana zero modes appear at the vortex core when the winding number is odd, while no such zero modes exist when it is even. We provide a formal mapping to the theory of gravity to describe this $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topological structure. Identifying a superconducting order parameter as a vielbein in the theory of gravity, we explicitly convert the Bogoliubov-de-Genne Hamiltonian into the Dirac Hamiltonian coupled to a nontrivial gravitational field. Then we find that a gravitational curvature is induced at the vortex core, with its total flux quantized in integer multiples of $π$, reflecting the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topology. Although the curvature vanishes everywhere except at the vortex core, the energy spectrum remains sensitive to the total curvature flux, owing to the gravitational Aharonov-Bohm effect. We further demonstrate that our gravitational framework can be applied to the topological phase transition driven by the vortex-linking precess in three-dimensional helical superconductors such as the He-B phase.
Authors
- Naoto Kan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9204-8690)
- Hidenori Fukaya (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8406-1649)
- Kazuki Yamamoto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1320-1664)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical review. B./Physical review. B
- Published
- 2025-12-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/k69g-nz39
- Primary Topic
- Topological Materials and Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00