Sponsored by Friends of
KITP
Majorana fermions were predicted in 1937 by Ettore Majorana in Rome.
These are particles with the mysterious property that they are equal to
their anti-particles. This defining property immediately implies that
these "Majoranas' have zero charge and zero energy. Ongoing searches for
detecting Majoranas occur in the context of high-energy physics and dark
matter, but yet without success. Simultaneously, condensed matter
theorists proposed specially designed electronics that can host
Majoranas. This insight led to a successful experiment that has the
signature of a Majorana, potentially the key to developing a quantum
computer.
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