Splitting of the zero-bias conductance peak as smoking gun evidence for the existence of the Majorana mode in a superconductor-semiconductor nanowire

Abstract

Recent observations of a zero-bias conductance peak in tunneling transport measurements in superconductor-semiconductor nanowire devices provide evidence for the predicted zero-energy Majorana modes, but not the conclusive proof of their existence. We establish that direct observation of a splitting of the zero-bias conductance peak can serve as the smoking gun evidence for the existence of the Majorana mode. We show that the splitting has an oscillatory dependence on the Zeeman field (chemical potential) at fixed chemical potential (Zeeman field). By contrast, when the density is constant rather than the chemical potential---the likely situation in the current experimental setups---the splitting oscillations are generically suppressed. Our theory predicts the conditions under which the splitting oscillations can serve as the smoking gun for the experimental confirmation of the elusive Majorana mode.