We propose the concept of birefringent Majorana fermions as collective excitations of quantum interacting many-body states motivated by the already known quasiparticles including Dirac fermions, birefringent Dirac fermions and Majorana fermions. Low energy effective models are constructed to understand the basic mathematical structures of equations of motion and physical properties. We find that the equation of motion, with two different "speed of light", describing birefringent Majorana fermions in condensed matter physics is the birefringence version of the original Majorana equation of real relativistic fermions.
We propose the concept of birefringent Majorana fermions as collective excitations of quantum interacting many-body states motivated by the already known quasiparticles including Dirac fermions, birefringent Dirac fermions and Majorana fermions. Low energy effective models are constructed to understand the basic mathematical structures of equations of motion and physical properties. We find that the equation of motion, with two different "speed of light", describing birefringent Majorana fermions in condensed matter physics is the birefringence version of the original Majorana equation of real relativistic fermions.
Majorana fermions are the real (in a mathematical sense) counterparts of complex fermions like ordinary electrons. The promise of topological quantum computing has lead to substantial experimental progress in realizing these particles in various synthetic platforms. The realization of Majorana fermions motivates a fundamental question: what phases of matter can emerge if many Majorana fermions are allowed to interact? Here we review recent progress in this direction on the proposed experimental setups, analytical and numerical results on low-dimensional lattice models, and the exactly solvable Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev model. The early progress thus far suggests that strongly correlated phases of matter with Majorana building blocks can exhibit many novel phenomena, such as emergent spacetime supersymmetry, topological order and the physics of black-holes, in condensed matter systems. They may also provide alternative avenues for universal topological quantum computing through the realization of the Fibonacci phase and measurement-based only surface codes.
Quantum simulation aims to simulate a quantum system using a controllable laboratory system that underline the same mathematical model. The cavity QED lattice system is the prescribed system to simulate the relativistic quantum effect. We quantum simulate the Dirac fermion mode, the Majorana fermion mode and also the Majorana-Weyl fermion mode and a crossover between them in cavity QED lattice. We present the different analytical relations between the field operators for different mode excitations. We also present an analysis of correlation function and the effect of dissipation at the zero Majorana fermion mode of cavity QED lattice.
Quasiparticles are a powerful concept of condensed matter quantum theory. In this review, the appearence and the properties of quasiparticles are presented in a unifying perspective. The principles behind the existence of quasiparticle excitations in both quantum disordered and ordered phases of fermionic and bosonic systems are discussed. The lifetime of quasiparticles is considered in particular near a continuous classical or quantum phase transition, when the nature of quasiparticles on both sides of a transition into an ordered state changes. A new concept of critical quasiparticles near a quantum critical point is introduced, and applied to quantum phase transitions in heavy fermion metals. Fractional quasiparticles in systems of restricted dimensionality are reviewed. Dirac quasiparticles emerging in so-called Dirac materials are discussed. The more recent discoveries of topologically protected chiral quasiparticles in topological matter and Majorana quasiparticles in topological superconductors are briefly reviewed.
A Majorana fermion is a fermionic particle that is its own antiparticle. Since the theoretical discovery in 1937, the exotic particle has long been searched in particle physics. In the last few decades, however, it has attracted renewed interest in condensed matter physics, where it can be realized as an elementary excitation (quasiparticle) in quantum states of matter. In this review, we discuss another platform for Majorana fermions, the quantum spin liquid, in which interacting magnetic moments remain disordered down to the lowest temperature under strong quantum fluctuations. They are characterized by topological entanglement and fractional excitations, whose possible application to topological quantum computation is recently discussed intensively. As a prime candidate for such exotic states, we here focus on the Kitaev magnets, a subgroup of the spin-orbit Mott insulators. After a brief overview of the Kitaev model and the fractionalization of spins in the exact ground state, we review recent explosive development in this rapidly growing field, with a focus on numerical solutions of the Kitaev model at finite temperatures and the comparison with experiments. The key concept is thermal fractionalization --- two types of fractional excitations manifest themselves at largely different temperatures. This leads to distinct thermodynamics and spin dynamics in a variety of experimentally measurable quantities. We discuss such peculiar behaviors as the signatures of fractional quasiparticles, in careful comparison with the available experimental data for the candidate materials of the Kitaev magnets. Our review gives an overview of the current status of the identification of Majorana fermions in the Kitaev magnets, which would serve as a basis for further experimental and theoretical studies toward the manipulation of the exotic particles for topological quantum computation.
A novel approach to S=1/2 antiferromagnets with strong quantum fluctuations based on the representation of spin-1/2 operators as bilinear forms of real (Majorana) fermions is suggested. This representation does not contain unphysical states and thus does not require the imposition of constraints on the fermionic Hilbert space. This property allows one to construct a simple and effective mean field theory of the spin liquid state. As an example illustrating the basic properties of this state I consider a model of Kondo lattice. It is shown that this model has a singlet ground state; elementary excitations have a spectral gap and are S=1 real (Majorana) fermions.
For most of the last century, condensed matter physics has been dominated by band theory and Landau's symmetry breaking theory. In the last twenty years, however, there has been an emergence of a new paradigm associated with fractionalization, emergent gauge bosons and fermions, topological order, string-net condensation, and long range entanglements. These new physical concepts are so fundamental that they may even influence our understanding of the origin of light and electrons in the universe. This book is a pedagogical and systematic introduction to the new concepts and quantum field theoretical methods in condensed matter physics. It discusses many basic notions in theoretical physics which underlie physical phenomena in nature, including a notion that unifies light and electrons. Topics covered include dissipative quantum systems, boson condensation, symmetry breaking and gapless excitations, phase transitions, Fermi liquids, spin density wave states, Fermi and fractional statistics, quantum Hall effects, topological/quantum order, and spin liquid and string-net condensation. Methods discussed include the path integral, Green's functions, mean-field theory, effective theory, renormalization group, bosonization in one- and higher dimensions, non-linear sigma-model, quantum gauge theory, dualities, projective construction, and exactly soluble models beyond one-dimension.