Large-scale maximal entanglement and Majorana bound states in coupled circuit quantum electrodynamic systems

Abstract

We study the effect of ultrastrong cavity-qubit coupling on the low-lying excitations of a chain of coupled circuit quantum electrodynamic (QED) systems. We show that, in the presence of the onsite ultrastrong coupling, the photon hopping between cavities can be mapped to the Ising interaction between the lowest two levels of individual circuit QED of the chain. Based on our mapping, we predict two nearly degenerate ground states whose wave functions involve maximal entanglement between the macroscopic quantum states of the cavities and the states of qubits and identify that they are mathematically equivalent to Majorana bound states. Further, we devise a scheme for the dispersive measurement of the ground states using an additional resonator attached to one end of the circuit QED chain. Finally, we discuss the effects of disorders and local noises on the coherence of the ground states. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.125404