Achim Rosch and Simon Trebst
Fri 12:15-13:45
seminar room E0.03 | Institute for Theoretical Physics (new building)
The seminar will start on Fri April 13th, 2018.
Overview
Majorana fermions have been introduced first in the context of high-energy physics, where they decribe relativistic, massless fermions which are their own antiparticle.
In recent years they received a lot of attention in the field of solid state physics to describe exotic states of matter. Localized majorana states can also be generated in superconductors with strong spin orbit coupling. Here they can be used to store and process quantum information in a nonlocal way. They therefore have the potential to become powerful building blocks of future quantum computers.
In this seminar we introduce the conceptual and methodological knowledge required to understand the interplay of physics and topology in quantum matter. We aim to keep a balance between the discussion of physical phenomena, and methodological tools required to get along in one of the most rapidly evolving fields of condensed matter physics.
Prerequisites
For some talks previous knowledge in Quantum Field Theory is useful, but several topics can also be covered with a basic background in quantum mechanics.
Talks
Preliminary schedule- April 27th, Martin Gembé, Christopher Zachowi
Kitaev models I: Majorana chains [julia notebook, animation] - May 4th, Thomas Bömerich, Felix Henschke
Experimental realizations of Majorana chains [julia notebook] - May 11th, Dennis Hardt
Experimental signatures of Majorana fermions - May 18th, Atif Javed, Vaishnavi Jayakumar
Majorana braiding in px+ipy superconductors - June 1st, Henri Koschke, Marcel Unger
Introduction to topological quantum field theories - June 8th, Changjun Yeo, Thorben Frank
Quantum bits and computing, Majorana Cooper boxes - June 15th, Kai Meinerz, Frederic Freyer
Kitaev models II: toric code - June 22nd, Christoph Vierke, Yasar Efe Dai
Kitaev models III: honeycomb spin liquids - June 29th, Marcel Gievers, Jannis Brodherr
Thermal quantum Hall effect [julia notebook, animation, slides] - July 6th, Saurabh Kumar, Ankita Negi
Fractional quantum Hall effect and parafermions - July 13th, Angelos Bampounis
Fractons - July 20th, Manuel Zohlen, Shao Yu Chen
Kitaev models IV: quantum gravity