Puzzling Majorana Fermion Captured After Years of Research

Majorana fermion – an enigmatic exotic particle known to be its own antiparticle is reported to have been discovered, and, if true, would be an unprecedented case when a phenomenon predicted theoretically tens of years ago has been observed in a real experiment (scroll down for video description of experimental).

Some scientists had previously revealed that this wacky particle could be of great importance in transporting bits of information and data in quantum computers.

Researchers at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have built up a device that apparently provides evidence of the existence of Majorana fermions. Vincent Mourik and Leo P. Kouwenhoven claimed they managed to generate Majoranas by placing a small circuit into a magnetic field and their stunning work was published in the journal Science (Video Majorana experimental, Delft University, Nederland).

Two Majorana fermions (orange balls) are produced at the end of the nanowire in an experiment at TU Delft, The Netherlands

So far, the only evidence of existence of Majorana fermions -electrically neutral elementary particles of matter- was unveiled in a theoretical work developed by Italian physicist Ettore Majorana back in 1937. Despite the fact that Majorana’s evidence was strong, yet there is necessary further experimental research to support the discovery.

Who was Ettore Majorana?
He was a magnificent physicist and known in the scientific world as the first to release a theory into the existence of Majorana. In 1938, he embarked a ship to travel between Napoli and Palermo but he stunningly vanished during the trip. He was never found and his disappearance hase been covered in mystery till nowadays.

Exotic particles
Elementary particles fall into 2 categories: fermions and bosons. Fermions are correlated with matter whereas bossons are force carrier particles.
Fermions feature a half-integer spin, satisfy Fermi-Dirac statistics and obbey Pauli exclusion principle which states that only one fermion can occupy a particular quantum state at any given time. Example of fermions are electrons, quaks, leptons, baryons, hadrons (protons and neutrons that are made up of quarks).
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What makes Mojaranas so special?
Majorana particles are seen as unusual compared to the other fermions, which have antiparticles – particles with same mass but opposite charge. For example, an electron features a negative charge and its antiparticle (“anti-electron”) is called positron. The electron-positron pair annihilate one another releasing energy (photons).
Bosons instead, are their own antiparticle and they don’t annihilate when get into contact.
Majorana fermions feature kind of fermion-boson properties. They look like bosons as they act as their own antiparticles, however unlike bosons, Majoranas still annihilate when they touch their antimatter counterparts. (Another similar example is neutrinos which is still subject of intensive research).
In contrast to usual particles, Majoranas are “quasiparticles,” which are born from the collective properties of the materials.

Majoranas appearance
In order to generate wacky particles, the scientists used in their experiment nanowires, which are able to create such quasiparticles when they are exposed to a magnetic field. The outcome revealed sign of the Majorana particles having been made – some peak in conductivity signal.
Leo Kouwenhoven sees the results as strong evidence. He presented his findings at the American Physical Society conference in February, where he first claimed he might have spotted the Majorana fermions. Subsequently he carried out some other checks to be sure he was not wrong.

Majoranas would thus be a more simple method to store information in quantum computers, which are now based on atoms; the atoms can turn unstable if there is room for a tiny instability in the system, while Majoranas is seen as a reliable way to have stable quantum machines.

Video: Promotional clip Majorana fermions experiment TU Delft, NL

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