Pasquale Marra, PhD
I am a theoretical condensed matter physicist working as Assistant Professor at Sophia University, Faculty of Science and Technology.
I am interested in topological states of matter, superconductivity, and quantum computation. My recent work is focussed on Majorana bound states in topological superconductors, and more generally on the emergence of topological phases induced by spatially modulated fields or spacetime curvatures, in quantum nanostructures as well as in cold atoms trapped by coherent laser beams (optical lattices).
4/2025 - present
Assistant Professor at
Sophia University, Faculty of Science and Technology, and visiting Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics, Keio University, and at the Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University (Japan).
12/2019 - 3/2025
Researcher at the Department of Mathematical Sciences,
The University of Tokyo, and visiting researcher at the Department of Physics, Keio University (Japan)
4/2019 - 11/2019
Researcher at the Department of Physics, Keio University (Japan)
2/2017 - 3/2019
Researcher in the Quantum System Theory Research Team, RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (Japan)
2/2014 - 10/2016
Researcher at CNR (National Research Council), Salerno (Italy)
4/2010 - 1/2014
Ph. D. student at the Institute for Theoretical Solid State Physics (ITF), IFW Dresden (Germany)
Funding
Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists (KAKENHI), Grant number 23K13028 awarded in 2023 by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists (KAKENHI), Grant number 20K14375 awarded in 2020 by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
Education
10/2015
Ph. D. at the Technische Universität Dresden (Germany)
7/2009
Master’s Degree in Physics at the University of Salerno (Italy)
Teaching
Electromagnetism, Thermodynamics, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, Superconductivity
Selected Publications
-
"Metric-induced non-Hermitian physics",
Marra,
SciPost Phys. 20, 103 (2026) arXiv:2412:14250 -
"Nonhermitian topological zero modes at smooth domain walls: Exact solutions",
Marra, Nigro,
Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys., (2025) arXiv:2504.07098 -
"Gauge fields induced by curved spacetime",
Marra,
Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics 2025 arXiv:2412.03647 -
"Zero energy modes with gaussian, exponential, or polynomial decay: Exact solutions in hermitian and nonhermitian regimes",
Marra, Nigro,
Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys., 2025 arXiv:2412.14255 -
"Topological zero modes and bounded modes at smooth domain walls: Exact solutions and dualities",
Marra, Nigro,
Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys., 2025 (2), 023A01 arXiv:2408.16466 -
"Majorana modes in striped two-dimensional inhomogeneous topological superconductors", Marra, Inotani, Mizushima, Nitta,
npj Quantum Mater. 9, 59 (2024) arXiv:2312.08439
Popular summary on Kudos:
Majorana zero modes and topologically nontrivial stripes induced by inhomogeneous superconductivity
and on Springer Nature Research Communities:
Majorana zero modes induced by inhomogeneous superconductivity -
"Hofstadter-Toda spectral duality and quantum groups", Marra, Proietti, Sheng,
J. Math. Phys. 65, 071903 (2024) arXiv:2312.14242
Popular summary on Kudos:
An exact formula for the energy spectra of the Hofstadter butterfly -
"Majorana nanowires for topological quantum computation", Marra
J. Appl. Phys. 132, 231101 (2022) arXiv:2206.14828
Popular summary on Kudos:
Majorana states in nanowires: towards topological quantum computers
This work is highlighted in the 2022 Early Career Investigator Selection of the Journal of Applied Physics and on nLab -
"1D Majorana Goldstinos and partial supersymmetry breaking in quantum wires", Marra, Inotani, Nitta
Commun. Phys. 5, 149 (2022) arXiv:2106.09039 -
"Majorana/Andreev crossover and the fate of the topological phase transition in inhomogeneous nanowires", Marra, Nigro
J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 34 124001 (2022) arXiv:2112.00757 -
"Competition and interplay between topology and quasi-periodic disorder in Thouless pumping of ultracold atoms",
Nakajima, Takei, Sakuma, Kuno, Marra, Takahashi
Nature Physics 17, 844–849 (2021) arXiv:2007.06817
Thouless ポンプにおける乱れの効果を検証 ―トポロジカル量子現象と乱れの競合と協奏 -
"Topologically quantized current in quasiperiodic Thouless pumps", Marra, Nitta
Phys. Rev. Res. 2, 042035(R) (2020) arXiv:2001.11022 -
"Topologically nontrivial Andreev bound states", Marra, Nitta
Phys. Rev. B 100, 220502(R) (2019) arXiv:1907.05416 -
"Degeneracy lifting of Majorana bound states due to electron-phonon interactions", Aseev, Marra, Stano, Klinovaja, Loss
Phys. Rev. B 99, 205435 (2019) arXiv:1903.12066 -
"Fractional quantization of charge and spin in topological quantum pumps", Marra, Citro
Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 226: 2781 (2017) arXiv:1703.03815 -
"Controlling Majorana states in topologically inhomogeneous superconductors", Marra, Cuoco
Phys. Rev. B 95, 140504(R) (2017) arXiv:1606.08450 -
"Signatures of topological phase transitions in Josephson current-phase discontinuities", Marra, Citro, Braggio
Phys. Rev. B 93, 220507(R) (2016) arXiv:1508.01799
Included in the Highlights 2016 of CNR Institute SPIN (Italy) -
"Fractional quantization of the topological charge pumping in a one-dimensional superlattice", Marra, Citro, Ortix
Phys. Rev. B 91, 125411 (2015) arXiv:1408.4457
This paper is a Highly Cited Paper according to Thomson Reuters
As of November/December 2015, this paper received enough citations to place it in the top 1% of its academic field based on a highly cited threshold for the field and publication year
