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Majorana Fermion May Have Been Spotted At TU Delft
vikingpower writes "A research group at Technical University Delft around prof. Kouwenhoven has probably not only spotted pairs of so-called Majorana Fermions for the first time (these had been predicted to exist by the Italian physicist Ettore Majorana), but also demonstrated that, by generating them at the end of an Indium-Arsenide microwire, quantum computing with them may have come one more step closer to reality. The excitement around Prof. Kouwenhoven at the American Physical Society annual congress in Boston, after he completed his presentation, was considerable.A nice illustration is provided by this newspaper article (in Dutch)."
It didn't say Marijuana
Is that the female orgasm or something?
The picture and article differ in the wire composition, so which is it?
indium-antimonide or indium-arsenide?
I like to think that I have an okay understanding of how my computer works. When quantum computing becomes mainstream a computer will truly be a mystical device with magical power, but I'll still just use mine to play sudoku while I'm on the bus.
quantum computing with them may have come one more step closer to reality ..
With so many similar announcements in recent times, quantum computing should already be here ... why is it taking so long ?? Is it a case of: Its there, but, if I see it, its not there??
Note we're talking about condensed matter physics here, so this isn't the discovery of a fundamental particle that is a Majorana fermion, just a composite particle (similar to a Cooper pair) that appears to behave like a Majorana fermion. I'm sure this is an exciting discovery, but I tend to get more excited about fundamental particle discoveries.
BTW, maybe someone can enlighten me further, but since neutrinos have mass wouldn't they probably have to be Majorana fermion? You could catch up to a neutrino and make it appear as right-handed in some reference frame which would presumably make it's anti-matter right-handed counterpart? Neutrinoless double-beta decay is what would confirm that, right?
This is not a discovery of real elementary particle, instead it is a quasiparticle. It behaves (in its quantum properties) like Majorana Fermions, much in the same way a "hole" in a semiconductor behaves like a positively charged particle.
...to arrest that bitch...?
n/t
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
An automatically scheduled press release and someone mistyped: '4' and '3' are rather close on a keyboard.
The hole thing reads like an April's fools joke. Tell me this ain't so.
How the hell did Delft get ME3 ahead of the rest of us? What are Majorana's loyalty mission and romance options?
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
I honestly read it as, "Marijuana Majorana Fermion May..." not "Majorana Fermion May..."
Too much on my mind, I guess.
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
this is probably the first time they heard of Majorana Fermions. In a bit you'll see visits to wikipedia spiking and suddenly everyone's an expert on Majorana Fermions. For the rest who can't be bothered to understand the topic, they'll joke about Marijuana and what not.
That is all.
J.
I can't help admit that my first thought was, who the hell is Majorana Fermion? I dunno, but I like her already! I'm glad they found her!
As long as this isn't similar to previous claims of Cold Fusion in tupperware and the Emperor getting new 'clothes' then it may be something to get excited about.
I may or may not have butchered this, but I think its better than googles. All edits from original google translation are mine, as are any omissions.
--
Since 1937, physicists in Delft have sought to observe evidence of Majorana fermions, a fundamental particle whose properties may soon be used in quantum supercomputing.
Recently, Delft physicists have claimed to be the first to create this exotic new elementary particle, showing in addition how it can play a key role in the supercomputer of the future. They made their discovery not in a giant particle accelerator, but at the intersection of superconducting nanowires on a chip.
Prof. Leo Kouwenhoven, who made the discovery, announced the results at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society (APS). The news caused a wave of excitement among the thousands of present physicists. A reporter of the weekly Nature likened the situation to a busy train station during rush hour.
"Have we seen Majorana fermions? I'd say a cautious 'yes'", stated Kouwenhoven at the end of his presentation in Boston. Other physicists said that the Delft measurements cannot be explained other than by the presence of a Majorana-like particle.
The results have been published in the journal "Physical Review Letters". The so-called Majorana-fermion is one of the strangest elementary particles that physicists know, at least on paper. The possible existence was predicted in 1937 by the Italian physicist Ettore Majorana (1906-1938). Since then, physicists have looked everywhere for natural Majorana particles, but without success. Several years ago, attention was shifted to the observable effects in some solids which Majorana particles would create.
The Delft group found the first indications of the Majorana particles at the ends of a partially superconducting microscopic thread of indium antimonide. Kouwenhoven has long been investigating such nanowires -- last year he received a grant of one million dollars of software maker Microsoft for his quest for the artificial-Majorana fermion. Even physics financier FOM put up one million.
Microsoft's interest stems from the possibility of computer memory with Majorana particles. Such a computer would not use 1 or 0 bit states; Instead, it will use quantum bits, which facilitate much more computation. The problem with such a quantum computer is that quantum bits are sensitive to disturbances. Pairs of Majorana particles form an exception. They can be disrupted, but owing to their special mathematical properties, they always spring back to their original state. That is a desired property for a robust quantum memory system.
In the research, each memory element comprises a nanowire of indium-arsenide in which two electrodes with the underlying quasi-particles produce so-called Majorana's. These are not sensitive to external disturbances causing an internal conditions change. The two Majorana on each of the elements form together a qubit. Qubits are the ones and zeros which allow a quantum computer to carry out numerous calculations simultaneously, instead of all the calculation steps one by one, as in conventional computers.
OK, Majorana Fermion is a particle for which a=a+
But by definition the second quantization operators [a,a+]=(aa+)-(a+a)=1
So we have a contradiction here, because if a=a+, then [a,a+]=0, which does not obey to the definition of second quantization operator.
Someone cares to enlighten me?
How do those Majorana a and a+ operators look in positional representation? How does the first wave function look like?
I'll try later to find original Majorana papers, but in meantime if you have some hints I'd be glad to hear.
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#\ @ ? Colonize Mars
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its not marijuana farimones?/
Can somebody please explain why there is such a diversity of subatomic particles below the level of protons, neutrons, electrons and photons? It seems like all the properties of bosons/fermions etc. are used to give the "larger" particles their properties, but pretty much the entire behavior of the physical world as we know it is the way it is due to the properties of these larger particles that directly constitute atoms and photons, not (directly) due to the properties of the smaller particles that make up their parts. In other words, all the rich complexity of the smaller subatomic particles seems to be "packaged up" into an interface layer or "physical API" that is rather simple -- the properties of neutrons, protons, electrons and photons are well-defined and don't require the exotic behavior of the smaller particles per se. If the argument is that the smaller particles are needed to explain the behavior of the larger particles, then you can turn around and say, what conveys the observed behavior on the smaller particles? Still smaller particles? ... Anybody?
They quickly closed the curtains and Majorana read Fermion the riot act for leaving them open.
Now, the neighbors snicker whenever the two are spotted in public.
BTW, Majorana has a big ass.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
For a moment I felt I was in one of those Star Trek TNG episodes where the plot advances thanks to an ad hoc particle/field that can be polarity-reversed. Usually the particle/field in question was seldom, or never mentioned later. Talk of science imitating art.
I dated her back in grad school. One of those foreign students. She never shaved under her arms, and was often redolent of garlic, but man, she did this thing with her thumb and forefinger...
I remember her having nice clear skin, so I'm surprised to hear that she was spotted.
It was spotlights that did it. Amateurs are ruining everything.
That's pretty close to TU Delft, so maybe the ones TU Delft has found are one of the pairs from Deltares?
At least I THINK that's what the Dutch speaking guide called them.
Can I get some excitment around me too? ...
I haven't been laid in a while