Differentiating Majorana from Andreev bound states in a superconducting circuit

Abstract

We investigate the low-energy theory of a one-dimensional finite capacitance topological Josephson junction. Charge fluctuations across the junction couple to resonant microwave fields and can be used to probe microscopic excitations such as Majorana and Andreev bound states. This marriage between localized microscopic degrees of freedom and macroscopic dynamics of the superconducting phase, leads to unique spectroscopic patterns which allow us to reveal the presence of Majorana fermions among the low-lying excitations.