scholarly journals Topological braiding and virtual particles on the cell membrane

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (34) ◽  
pp. e2104191118
Author(s):  
Jinghui Liu ◽  
Jan F. Totz ◽  
Pearson W. Miller ◽  
Alasdair D. Hastewell ◽  
Yu-Chen Chao ◽  
...  

Braiding of topological structures in complex matter fields provides a robust framework for encoding and processing information, and it has been extensively studied in the context of topological quantum computation. In living systems, topological defects are crucial for the localization and organization of biochemical signaling waves, but their braiding dynamics remain unexplored. Here, we show that the spiral wave cores, which organize the Rho-GTP protein signaling dynamics and force generation on the membrane of starfish egg cells, undergo spontaneous braiding dynamics. Experimentally measured world line braiding exponents and topological entropy correlate with cellular activity and agree with predictions from a generic field theory. Our analysis further reveals the creation and annihilation of virtual quasi-particle excitations during defect scattering events, suggesting phenomenological parallels between quantum and living matter.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lingyuan Kong ◽  
Lu Cao ◽  
Shiyu Zhu ◽  
Michał Papaj ◽  
Guangyang Dai ◽  
...  

AbstractThe iron-based superconductor is emerging as a promising platform for Majorana zero mode, which can be used to implement topological quantum computation. One of the most significant advances of this platform is the appearance of large vortex level spacing that strongly protects Majorana zero mode from other low-lying quasiparticles. Despite the advantages in the context of physics research, the inhomogeneity of various aspects hampers the practical construction of topological qubits in the compounds studied so far. Here we show that the stoichiometric superconductor LiFeAs is a good candidate to overcome this obstacle. By using scanning tunneling microscopy, we discover that the Majorana zero modes, which are absent on the natural clean surface, can appear in vortices influenced by native impurities. Our detailed analysis reveals a new mechanism for the emergence of those Majorana zero modes, i.e. native tuning of bulk Dirac fermions. The discovery of Majorana zero modes in this homogeneous material, with a promise of tunability, offers an ideal material platform for manipulating and braiding Majorana zero modes, pushing one step forward towards topological quantum computation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (44) ◽  
pp. 12386-12390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hailong Fu ◽  
Pengjie Wang ◽  
Pujia Shan ◽  
Lin Xiong ◽  
Loren N. Pfeiffer ◽  
...  

Some theories predict that the filling factor 5/2 fractional quantum Hall state can exhibit non-Abelian statistics, which makes it a candidate for fault-tolerant topological quantum computation. Although the non-Abelian Pfaffian state and its particle-hole conjugate, the anti-Pfaffian state, are the most plausible wave functions for the 5/2 state, there are a number of alternatives with either Abelian or non-Abelian statistics. Recent experiments suggest that the tunneling exponents are more consistent with an Abelian state rather than a non-Abelian state. Here, we present edge-current–tunneling experiments in geometrically confined quantum point contacts, which indicate that Abelian and non-Abelian states compete at filling factor 5/2. Our results are consistent with a transition from an Abelian state to a non-Abelian state in a single quantum point contact when the confinement is tuned. Our observation suggests that there is an intrinsic non-Abelian 5/2 ground state but that the appropriate confinement is necessary to maintain it. This observation is important not only for understanding the physics of the 5/2 state but also for the design of future topological quantum computation devices.


2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (08n09) ◽  
pp. 1372-1378 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. E. BONESTEEL ◽  
L. HORMOZI ◽  
G. ZIKOS ◽  
S. H. SIMON

In topological quantum computation quantum information is stored in exotic states of matter which are intrinsically protected from decoherence, and quantum operations are carried out by dragging particle-like excitations (quasiparticles) around one another in two space dimensions. The resulting quasiparticle trajectories define world-lines in three dimensional space-time, and the corresponding quantum operations depend only on the topology of the braids formed by these world-lines. We describe recent work showing how to find braids which can be used to perform arbitrary quantum computations using a specific kind of quasiparticle (those described by the so-called Fibonacci anyon model) which are thought to exist in the experimentally observed ν = 12/5 fractional quantum Hall state.


Author(s):  
Niccolò Traverso Ziani ◽  
Lucia Vigliotti ◽  
Matteo Carrega ◽  
Fabio Cavaliere

Majorana bound states in topological superconductors have attracted intense research activity in view of applications in topological quantum computation. However, they are not the only example of topological bound states that can occur in such systems. We here study a model in which both Majorana and Tamm bound states compete. We show both numerically and analytically that, surprisingly, the Tamm state remains partially localized even when the spectrum becomes gapless. Despite this fact, we demonstrate that the Majorana polarization shows a clear transition between the two regimes.


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