Google AI Blog

The world’s first braiding of non-Abelian anyons

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  1. Non-Abelian anyons and their potential for quantum computing
  • Non-Abelian anyons are a type of particle that show promise for quantum computing through braiding operations.
  • Braiding these particles can be used as quantum computing operations, similar to how strings are braided to create knots.
  • Abelian anyons are not as useful for topological quantum computing as non-Abelian anyons.
  1. Producing non-Abelian anyons
  • To produce non-Abelian anyons, degeracy must be controlled.
  • Single-qubit gates can be used to create and move non-Abelian anyons.
  1. Verifying anyonic behavior
  • Three characteristics of non-Abelian anyons are investigated: fusion rules, statistics, and non-locality.
  • Fusion rules are examined by observing the behavior of a pair of non-Abelian anyons when brought into contact with each other and with bishop-like plaquette violations.
  • Braiding of non-Abelian anyons demonstrates their non-Abelian statistics.
  • Non-locality is demonstrated through the entanglement of the state of multiple non-Abelian anyons.