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Exotic matter

Another dimension for anyons

Nature volume 464, pages 693–694 (2010)Cite this article

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Non-Abelian anyons are hypothesized particles that, if found, could form the basis of a fault-tolerant quantum computer. The theoretical finding that they may turn up in three dimensions comes as a surprise.

In an article published in Physical Review Letters, Teo and Kane describe1 a theoretical model for systems in which an exotic state of matter, termed a topological insulator, coexists with superconductivity. They found, surprisingly, that the model predicts hypothesized particles called non-Abelian anyons, and allows these particles to move around in three dimensions, thus breaking free of the bonds that were thought to chain them down to two dimensions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. and the Department of Physics, Chetan Nayak is at Microsoft Research, Station Q, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA. nayak@kitp.ucsb.edu,

    Chetan Nayak

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  1. Chetan Nayak
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Nayak, C. Another dimension for anyons. Nature 464, 693–694 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/464693a

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