Particle Physics On a Chip: the Search for Majorana Fermions

INC COLLOQUIUM – OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Title: Particle Physics On a Chip: the Search for Majorana Fermions
Speaker: Leo Kouwenhoven, Delft Univ. of Technology.
Where: Sala de conferencias módulo 0, Facultad de Ciencias.
When: Thursday 29 May, 12:h00

ABSTRACT:

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.