Majorana fermions and quantum computing

Microsoft’s recently announced topological chip was named Majorana 1, in honor of Ettore Majorana, who in 1937 predicted the existence of particles whose fundamental property was that they would be equal to their antiparticles. These particles were initially called Majorana particles, and later Majorana fermions. In 2001, Alexei Kitaev suggested the existence of these particles in superconductors. Since 2010, several researchers have investigated the existence of Majorana fermions in topological superconductors, and in 2014 Frank Wilczek named them majorinos. In this work, a didactic transposition on Majorana fermions will be presented, as well as on their application in the fabrication of chips for topological quantum computing. The narrative is consistent with the level of undergraduate courses in physics, as well as the disciplines offered at MNPEF.

Keywords:
Majorana fermions; Majorino; Topological superconductor; Topological computer