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arXiv:1210.5060 · Physical Review A

Proposal for realization of the Majorana equation in a tabletop experiment

Changsuk Noh, B. M. Rodríguez-Lara, Dimitris G. Angelakis

Published Apr 3, 2013• 24 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We introduce the term Majoranon to describe particles that obey the Majorana equation, which are different from the Majorana fermions widely studied in various physical systems. A general procedure to simulate the corresponding Majoranon dynamics, based on a decomposition of the Majorana equation into two Dirac equations, is described in detail. It allows the simulation of the two-component chiral spinors, the building blocks of modern gauge theories, in the laboratory with current technology. Specifically, a Majoranon in one spatial dimension can be simulated with a single qubit plus a continuous degree of freedom, for example, a single trapped ion. Interestingly, the dynamics of a Majoranon deviates most clearly from that of a Dirac particle in the rest frame, in which the continuous variable is redundant, making a possible laboratory implementation feasible with existing setups.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.87.040102

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The majorana fermion represents a kind of particle which is its own antiparticle. This paper aims to analyze the majorana fermions from theoretical aspect and application aspect, including the derivation of Dirac equation and the practicality of topological quantum computer. This paper explores the idea of Majorana fermions from Dirac equation and the anyons which is an important quasi-particle to build a topological quantum computer. After that, the potentials of quantum computer are emphasized as well. Several current major difficulties faced by building a quantum computer have also been discussed, including the decoherence of qubit and the errors during the operation of qubit. The advantages of topological computer are mentioned as well, especially the high resistance to local perturbation. The important property of two-dimensional non-abelian anyons has been discussed as well. Finally, the important relation of majorana fermions with anyons are introduced and the reason why majorana fermions is important has also been revealed.

Theoretical and Natural Science•Jan 23, 2024•1 citation

Quantum simulations of gauge theories and topological phases

Pierpaolo Fontana

Gauge theories and topological phases play a fundamental role in different areas of physics. The first ones are at the basis of the Standard Model in the field of particle physics, describing the electroweak and strong interactions through a non-Abelian gauge theory. In condensed matter and statistical physics, gauge theories arise as low-energy effective descriptions of strongly correlated phenomena, such as quantum spin liquids and quantum Hall effect. In this realm there is a strong connection with topological phases and order, as emergent gauge fermions and bosons often describe collective excitations of new exotic states of matter of spin models. The discretization on a lattice is a possible way of dealing with the strongly coupled nature of these theories, due to the fact that this formulation at finite volume provides natural regularizing cut-offs, i.e. the lattice size and spacing. This allows for the investigation of different non-perturbative properties both numerically and analytically. Despite the success of these methods, there are various aspects which remain intractable due to the sign or complex action problems, like the out of equilibrium real time evolution or the analysis of quantum chromodynamics with finite chemical potential. In this respect, quantum simulators of many-body systems to simulate high energy physics arise as promising alternatives to face these problems in the near future. They are quantum systems that can be controlled and used to simulate more complicated systems, whose properties could not be analysed with classical computational, experimental or theoretical tools. In the last decades, there has been a huge development in the fields of quantum optics and atomic physics, allowing for the realization highly precise and controllable platforms by means of trapped ions, superconducting circuits, Rydberg atoms and ultracold atoms in optical lattices. This work of Thesis is part of these fields and has different purposes, all of them connected with the study of gauge theories and topological phases. Firstly, we want to develop a reformulation of lattice gauge theories in terms of gauge invariant fields, in a way to deal solely with physical variables directly in the action. Among several possible advantages, a crucial point is that this can be particularly helpful for the construction of consistent approximation schemes, such as mean-field theories, in order to understand and capture some of the physical features of the theory and make the mean-field approximation consistent with the Elitzur theorem, stating that a local gauge symmetry can not be spontaneously broken. As a second point, we face the problem of simulating higher dimensional gauge theories with ultracold atoms. One of the challenges in more than one dimension is indeed the realization of plaquette interaction terms in the Hamiltonian of lattice gauge theories: these can be engineered through four correlated hoppings in perturbation theory, or by means of constrained hoppings in the dual formulation. In this respect, our main target is to set up an ultracold atomic platform generating the plaquette term in two dimensions using only two correlated hoppings, and protecting gauge invariance through angular momentum conservation. The last point we address in the Thesis is related to the analysis of particles moving in static background gauge potentials, i.e. when the considered gauge field has no dynamical term in the action of the system. Indeed, the dynamics of quantum particles in the presence of static gauge fields gives rise to intriguing physical phenomena. In particular, using ultracold atom setups, the realization of artificial gauge potentials can be used to investigate the physics of topological semimetals, such as Weyl or Dirac type. In the last ten years, a lot of attention has been paid to their characterization, due to the appearence of clear theoretical predictions and very well-controlled experimental techniques. We investigate here the relation between topological phase transitions and van Hove singularities, i.e. the discontinuities in the energy derivative of the density of states, in three-dimensional gapless systems. In such materials, topological phase transitions can be defined by changes of the topological invariants of the Fermi sheets, happening at specific singular points. Moreover, Fermi surface singularities result in the presence of the so-called van Hove points. We then present a general argument to relate topological phase transitions and van Hove singularities, and show observable consequences that are related to the transport properties of the system. We exemplify our argument in Weyl systems by analyzing the three-dimensional Hofstadter model for various commensurate fluxes, which offers the opportunity to consider different kinds of Weyl metals and to understand the features of their density of states.

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Building a universal quantum computer is a central goal of emerging quantum technologies, which has the potential to revolutionize science and technology. Unfortunately, this future does not seem to be very close at hand. However, quantum computers built for a special purpose, i.e. quantum simulators , are currently developed in many leading laboratories. Many schemes for quantum simulation have been proposed and realized using, e.g., ultracold atoms in optical lattices, ultracold trapped ions, atoms in arrays of cavities, atoms/ions in arrays of traps, quantum dots, photonic networks, or superconducting circuits. The progress in experimental implementations is more than spectacular. Particularly interesting are those systems that simulate quantum matter evolving in the presence of gauge fields. 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Although such a system is an insulator in the bulk, it supports topologically robust edge excitations which carry the Hall current. The robustness of these chiral excitations against backscattering explains the universality of the quantum Hall effect. Another interesting and related effect, which arises from the interplay between strong magnetic field and lattice potentials, is the famous Hofstadter butterfly: the energy spectrum of a single particle moving on a lattice and subjected to a strong magnetic field displays a beautiful fractal structure as a function of the magnetic flux penetrating each elementary plaquette of the lattice. When the effects of interparticle interactions become dominant, two-dimensional gases of electrons exhibit even more exotic behaviour leading to the fractional quantum Hall effect. In certain conditions such a strongly interacting electron gas may form a highly correlated state of matter, the prototypical example being the celebrated Laughlin quantum liquid. Even more fascinating is the behaviour of bulk excitations (quasi-hole and quasi-particles): they are neither fermionic nor bosonic, but rather behave as anyons with fractional statistics intermediate between the two. Moreover, for some specific filling factors (ratio between the electronic density and the flux density), these anyons are proven to have an internal structure (several components) and non-Abelian braiding properties. Many of the above statements concern theoretical predictions—they have never been observed in condensed matter systems. For instance, the fractional values of the Hall conductance is seen as a direct consequence of the fractional statistics, but to date direct observation of anyons has not been possible in two-dimensional semiconductors. 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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Jun 24, 2013•11 citations

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Graphical Proposal for a Quantum Simulation of the Two-Dimensional Dirac Oscillator: Optical Trapped-Ion and Microwave Implementations

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•Jun 23, 2026•0 citations
We introduce the term Majoranon to describe particles that obey the Majorana equation, which are different from the Majorana fermions widely studied in various physical systems. A general procedure to simulate the corresponding Majoranon dynamics, based on a decomposition of the Majorana equation into two Dirac equations, is described in detail. It allows the simulation of the two-component chiral spinors, the building blocks of modern gauge theories, in the laboratory with current technology. Specifically, a Majoranon in one spatial dimension can be simulated with a single qubit plus a continuous degree of freedom, for example, a single trapped ion. Interestingly, the dynamics of a Majoranon deviates most clearly from that of a Dirac particle in the rest frame, in which the continuous variable is redundant, making a possible laboratory implementation feasible with existing setups.
The majorana fermion represents a kind of particle which is its own antiparticle. This paper aims to analyze the majorana fermions from theoretical aspect and application aspect, including the derivation of Dirac equation and the practicality of topological quantum computer. This paper explores the idea of Majorana fermions from Dirac equation and the anyons which is an important quasi-particle to build a topological quantum computer. After that, the potentials of quantum computer are emphasized as well. Several current major difficulties faced by building a quantum computer have also been discussed, including the decoherence of qubit and the errors during the operation of qubit. The advantages of topological computer are mentioned as well, especially the high resistance to local perturbation. The important property of two-dimensional non-abelian anyons has been discussed as well. Finally, the important relation of majorana fermions with anyons are introduced and the reason why majorana fermions is important has also been revealed.
Gauge theories and topological phases play a fundamental role in different areas of physics. The first ones are at the basis of the Standard Model in the field of particle physics, describing the electroweak and strong interactions through a non-Abelian gauge theory. In condensed matter and statistical physics, gauge theories arise as low-energy effective descriptions of strongly correlated phenomena, such as quantum spin liquids and quantum Hall effect. In this realm there is a strong connection with topological phases and order, as emergent gauge fermions and bosons often describe collective excitations of new exotic states of matter of spin models. The discretization on a lattice is a possible way of dealing with the strongly coupled nature of these theories, due to the fact that this formulation at finite volume provides natural regularizing cut-offs, i.e. the lattice size and spacing. This allows for the investigation of different non-perturbative properties both numerically and analytically. Despite the success of these methods, there are various aspects which remain intractable due to the sign or complex action problems, like the out of equilibrium real time evolution or the analysis of quantum chromodynamics with finite chemical potential. In this respect, quantum simulators of many-body systems to simulate high energy physics arise as promising alternatives to face these problems in the near future. They are quantum systems that can be controlled and used to simulate more complicated systems, whose properties could not be analysed with classical computational, experimental or theoretical tools. In the last decades, there has been a huge development in the fields of quantum optics and atomic physics, allowing for the realization highly precise and controllable platforms by means of trapped ions, superconducting circuits, Rydberg atoms and ultracold atoms in optical lattices. This work of Thesis is part of these fields and has different purposes, all of them connected with the study of gauge theories and topological phases. Firstly, we want to develop a reformulation of lattice gauge theories in terms of gauge invariant fields, in a way to deal solely with physical variables directly in the action. Among several possible advantages, a crucial point is that this can be particularly helpful for the construction of consistent approximation schemes, such as mean-field theories, in order to understand and capture some of the physical features of the theory and make the mean-field approximation consistent with the Elitzur theorem, stating that a local gauge symmetry can not be spontaneously broken. As a second point, we face the problem of simulating higher dimensional gauge theories with ultracold atoms. One of the challenges in more than one dimension is indeed the realization of plaquette interaction terms in the Hamiltonian of lattice gauge theories: these can be engineered through four correlated hoppings in perturbation theory, or by means of constrained hoppings in the dual formulation. In this respect, our main target is to set up an ultracold atomic platform generating the plaquette term in two dimensions using only two correlated hoppings, and protecting gauge invariance through angular momentum conservation. The last point we address in the Thesis is related to the analysis of particles moving in static background gauge potentials, i.e. when the considered gauge field has no dynamical term in the action of the system. Indeed, the dynamics of quantum particles in the presence of static gauge fields gives rise to intriguing physical phenomena. In particular, using ultracold atom setups, the realization of artificial gauge potentials can be used to investigate the physics of topological semimetals, such as Weyl or Dirac type. In the last ten years, a lot of attention has been paid to their characterization, due to the appearence of clear theoretical predictions and very well-controlled experimental techniques. We investigate here the relation between topological phase transitions and van Hove singularities, i.e. the discontinuities in the energy derivative of the density of states, in three-dimensional gapless systems. In such materials, topological phase transitions can be defined by changes of the topological invariants of the Fermi sheets, happening at specific singular points. Moreover, Fermi surface singularities result in the presence of the so-called van Hove points. We then present a general argument to relate topological phase transitions and van Hove singularities, and show observable consequences that are related to the transport properties of the system. We exemplify our argument in Weyl systems by analyzing the three-dimensional Hofstadter model for various commensurate fluxes, which offers the opportunity to consider different kinds of Weyl metals and to understand the features of their density of states.
Building a universal quantum computer is a central goal of emerging quantum technologies, which has the potential to revolutionize science and technology. Unfortunately, this future does not seem to be very close at hand. However, quantum computers built for a special purpose, i.e. quantum simulators , are currently developed in many leading laboratories. Many schemes for quantum simulation have been proposed and realized using, e.g., ultracold atoms in optical lattices, ultracold trapped ions, atoms in arrays of cavities, atoms/ions in arrays of traps, quantum dots, photonic networks, or superconducting circuits. The progress in experimental implementations is more than spectacular. Particularly interesting are those systems that simulate quantum matter evolving in the presence of gauge fields. In the quantum simulation framework, the generated (synthetic) gauge fields may be Abelian, in which case they are the direct analogues of the vector potentials commonly associated with magnetic fields. In condensed matter physics, strong magnetic fields lead to a plethora of fascinating phenomena, among which the most paradigmatic is perhaps the quantum Hall effect. The standard Hall effect consists in the appearance of a transverse current, when a longitudinal voltage difference is applied to a conducting sample. For quasi-two-dimensional semiconductors at low temperatures placed in very strong magnetic fields, the transverse conductivity, the ratio between the transverse current and the applied voltage, exhibits perfect and robust quantization, independent for instance of the material or of its geometry. Such an integer quantum Hall effect, is now understood as a deep consequence of underlying topological order. Although such a system is an insulator in the bulk, it supports topologically robust edge excitations which carry the Hall current. The robustness of these chiral excitations against backscattering explains the universality of the quantum Hall effect. Another interesting and related effect, which arises from the interplay between strong magnetic field and lattice potentials, is the famous Hofstadter butterfly: the energy spectrum of a single particle moving on a lattice and subjected to a strong magnetic field displays a beautiful fractal structure as a function of the magnetic flux penetrating each elementary plaquette of the lattice. When the effects of interparticle interactions become dominant, two-dimensional gases of electrons exhibit even more exotic behaviour leading to the fractional quantum Hall effect. In certain conditions such a strongly interacting electron gas may form a highly correlated state of matter, the prototypical example being the celebrated Laughlin quantum liquid. Even more fascinating is the behaviour of bulk excitations (quasi-hole and quasi-particles): they are neither fermionic nor bosonic, but rather behave as anyons with fractional statistics intermediate between the two. Moreover, for some specific filling factors (ratio between the electronic density and the flux density), these anyons are proven to have an internal structure (several components) and non-Abelian braiding properties. Many of the above statements concern theoretical predictions—they have never been observed in condensed matter systems. For instance, the fractional values of the Hall conductance is seen as a direct consequence of the fractional statistics, but to date direct observation of anyons has not been possible in two-dimensional semiconductors. Realizing these predictions in experiments with atoms, ions, photons etc, which potentially allow the experimentalist to perform measurements complementary to those made in condensed matter systems, is thus highly desirable! Non-Abelian gauge fields couple the motional states of the particles to their internal degrees of freedom (such as hyperfine states for atoms or ions, electronic spins for electrons, etc). In this sense external non-Abelian fields extend the concept of spin–orbit coupling (Rashba and Dresselhaus couplings), familiar from AMO and condensed matter physics. They lead to yet another variety of fascinating phenomena such as the quantum spin Hall effect, three-dimensional topological insulators, topological superconductors and superfluids of various kinds. One also expects here the appearance of excitations in a form of topological edge states that can support robust transport, or entangled Majorana fermions in the case of topological superconductors or superfluids. Again, while many kinds of topological insulators have been realized in condensed matter systems, a controlled way of creating them in AMO systems and studying quantum phase transitions between various kinds of them is obviously very appealing and challenging. The various systems listed so far correspond to static gauge fields, which are externally imposed by the experimentalists. Even more fascinating is the possibility of generating synthetically dynamical gauge fields, i.e. gauge fields that evolve in time according to an interacting gauge theory, e.g., a full lattice gauge theory (LGT). These dynamical gauge fields can also couple to matter fields, allowing the quantum simulation of such complex systems (notoriously hard to simulate using 'traditional' computers), which are particularly relevant for modern high-energy physics. So far, most of the theoretical proposals concern the simulation of Abelian gauge theories, however, several groups have recently proposed extensions to the non-Abelian scenarios. The scope of the present focused issue of Journal of Physics B is to cover all of these developments, with particular emphasis on the non-Abelian gauge fields. The 14 papers in this issue include contributions from the leading theory groups working in this field; we believe that this collection will provide the reference set for quantum simulations of gauge fields. Although the special issue contains exclusively theoretical proposals and studies, it should be stressed that the progress in experimental studies of artificial Abelian and non-Abelian gauge fields in recent years has been simply spectacular. Multiple leading groups are working on this subject and have already obtained a lot of seminal results. The papers in the special issue are ordered according to the date of acceptance. The issue opens with a review article by Zhou et al [1] on unconventional states of bosons with synthetic spin–orbit coupling. Next, the paper by Maldonado-Mundo et al [2] studies ultracold Fermi gases with artificial Rashba spin–orbit coupling in a 2D gas. Anderson and Charles [3], in contrast, discuss a three-dimensional spin–orbit coupling in a trap. Orth et al [4] investigate correlated topological phases and exotic magnetism with ultracold fermions, again in the presence of artificial gauge fields. The paper of Nascimbène [5] does not address the synthetic gauge fields directly, but describes an experimental proposal for realizing one-dimensional topological superfluids with ultracold atomic gases; obviously, this problem is well situated in the general and growing field of topological superfluids, in particular those realized in the presence of non-Abelian gauge fields/spin–orbit coupling. Graß et al [6] consider in their paper fractional quantum Hall states of a Bose gas with spin–orbit coupling induced by a laser. Particular attention is drawn here to the possibility of realizing states with non-Abelian anyonic excitations. Zheng et al [7] study properties of Bose gases with Raman-induced spin–orbit coupling. Kiffner et al [8] in their paper touch on another kind of system, namely ultracold Rydberg atoms. In particular they study the generation of Abelian and non-Abelian gauge fields in dipole–dipole interacting Rydberg atoms. The behaviour of fermions in synthetic non-Abelian gauge potentials is discussed by Shenoy and Vyasanakere [9]. The paper starts with the study of Rashbon condensates (i.e. Bose condensates in the presence of Rashba coupling) and also introduces novel kinds of exotic Hamiltonians. Goldman et al [10] propose a concrete setup for realizing arbitrary non-Abelian gauge potentials in optical square lattices; they discuss how such synthetic gauge fields can be exploited to generate Chern insulators. Zygelman [11], similarly as Kiffner et al [8], discusses in his paper non-Abelian gauge fields in Rydberg systems. Marchukov et al [12] return to the subject of spin–orbit coupling, and investigate spectral gaps of spin–orbit coupled particles in the realistic situations of deformed traps. The last two papers, in contrast, are devoted to different subjects. Edmonds et al [13] consider a 'dynamical' density-dependent gauge potential, and study the Josephson effect in a Bose–Einstein condensate subject to such a potential. Last, but not least, Mazzucchi et al [14] study the properties of semimetal-superfluid quantum phase transitions in 3D lattices with Dirac points. References [1] Zhou X, Li Y, Cai Z and Wu C 2013 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46 134001 [2] Maldonado-Mundo D, Öhberg P and Valiente M 2013 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46 134002 [3] Anderson B M and Clark C W 2013 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46 134003 [4] Orth P P, Cocks D, Rachel S, Buchhold M, Le Hur K and Hofstetter W 2013 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46 134004 [5] Nascimbène S 2013 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46 134005 [6] Graß T, Juliá-Díaz B, Burrello M and Lewenstein M 2013 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46 134006 [7] Zheng W, Yu Z-Q, Cui X and Zhai H 2013 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46 134007 [8] Kiffner M, Li W and Jaksch D 2013 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46 134008 [9] Shenoy V B and Vyasanakere J P 2013 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46 134009 [10] Goldman N, Gerbier F and Lewenstein M 2013 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46 134010 [11] Zygelman B 2013 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46 134011 [12] Marchukov O V, Volosniev A G, Fedorov D V, Jensen A S and Zinner N T 2013 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46 134012 [13] Edmonds M J, Valiente M and Öhberg P 2013 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46 134013 [14] Mazzucchi G, Lepori L and Trombettoni A 2013 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 46 134014
We analyze the Majorana equation in the limit where the particle is at rest. We show that several counterintuitive features, absent in the rest limit of the Dirac equation, do appear. Among them, Dirac-like positive energy solutions that turn into negative energy ones by free evolution, or nonstandard oscillations and interference between real and imaginary spinor components for complex solutions. We also study the ultrarelativistic limit, showing that the Majorana and Dirac equations mutually converge. Furthermore, we propose a physical implementation in trapped ions.
Abstract The two-dimensional Dirac oscillator is one of the most transparent exactly solvable models in relativistic quantum mechanics. Its Hamiltonian is linear in both momentum and posi- tion and therefore has no direct elementary-particle realization in ordinary harmonic traps. This extended proposal develops two complementary laboratory routes. The first is an optical trapped-ion implementation in which the electronic two-level system encodes the Dirac bispinor and two transverse motional modes encode the two spatial degrees of freedom. Bichromatic red- and blue-sideband laser fields synthesize the Jaynes-Cummings and anti-Jaynes-Cummings cou- plings required by the oscillator. The second route is a microwave-based proposal. Two meanings of “microwave implementation” are distinguished: a microwave-driven trapped-ion implementa- tion using magnetic-gradient-induced spin-motion coupling, and a microwave-resonator/tight- binding analogue based on coupled dielectric resonators. The former remains a genuine single- ion quantum simulator and can, in principle, implement the same effective Hamiltonian with improved phase stability and reduced optical spontaneous-emission errors. The latter is experi- mentally simpler for spectral measurements and can serve as a second proposal, but it is a wave analogue rather than a single-particle trapped-ion quantum simulation. We do not claim the first mapping of the 2 + 1 Dirac oscillator onto trapped-ion dynamics, which is already established in the literature; rather, the contribution is a consolidated, experimentally oriented roadmap that compares the optical trapped-ion, microwave-driven trapped-ion, and microwave-resonator routes, with explicit feasibility conditions, an observable strategy, a corrected graphical map- ping, an explicit separation of the ideal Hamiltonian from its leading correction terms, a worked order-of-magnitude estimate for a 171 Yb+ ion, and an explicit quantitative cross-walk to the trapped-ion and microwave experiments on which the scheme builds. We identify the advan- tages and limitations of each route and propose a staged experimental program for measuring Zitterbewegung, the relativistic square-root spectrum, and chirality-dependent dynamics.