Effects of electron-electron interactions in the Yu-Shiba-Rusinov lattice model

Abstract

In two-dimensional superconductors, Yu-Shiba-Rusinov bound states, induced by the magnetic impurities, extend over long distances giving rise to a long-range hopping model supporting a large number of topological phases with distinct Chern numbers. Here, we study how the electron-electron interactions affect, on a mean-field level, the selection of the realized Chern numbers and the magnitudes of the topological energy gaps in this model. We find that, in the case of an individual choice of the model parameters, the interactions can enhance or reduce the topological gap as well as cause topological phase transitions because of the complex interplay of superconductivity, magnetism, and the large spatial extent of the Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states. By sampling a large number of realizations of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov lattice models with different model parameters, we show that, statistically, the interactions have no effect on the realized Chern numbers and typical magnitudes of the topological gaps. However, the interactions substantially increase the likelihood of the largest topological gaps in the tails of the energy gap distribution in comparison to the noninteracting case.