Barbara M. Terhal, Fabian Hassler, David P. DiVincenzo
备注：
4+4 pages, 5 figures. v2 has a new reference and a few new comments. In v3: yet another new reference and Supplementary Material is renamed Appendix. In v4: several typos are corrected, to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett
We consider a system consisting of a 2D network of links between Majorana fermions on superconducting islands. We show that the fermionic Hamiltonian modeling this system is topologically-ordered in a region of parameter space. In particular we show that Kitaev's toric code emerges in fourth-order perturbation theory. By using a Jordan-Wigner transformation we can map the model onto a family of signed 2D Ising models in a transverse field where the signs (FM or AFM) are determined by additional gauge bits. Our mapping allows an understanding of the non-perturbative regime and the phase transition to a non-topological phase. We discuss the physics behind a possible implementation of this model and argue how it can be used for topological quantum computation by adiabatic changes in the Hamiltonian.
We introduce error-correcting codes that can correct for fermion parity-violating (quasiparticle poisoning) and parity-conserving errors in systems of complex fermions and of Majorana fermions. After establishing properties of fermion codes, we introduce a generic construction of fermion codes from weakly self-dual classical, binary error-correcting codes. We use this method to construct (i) the shortest fermion code to correct for quasiparticle poisoning errors, (ii) translationally-invariant fermion codes and (iii) other codes that correct higher-weight errors. We conclude by discussing a po…
We establish a unified framework for Majorana-based fault-tolerant quantum computation with Majorana surface codes and Majorana color codes. All logical Clifford gates are implemented with zero time overhead. This is done by introducing a protocol for Pauli product measurements with tetrons and hexons which only requires local 4-Majorana parity measurements. An analogous protocol is used in the fault-tolerant setting, where tetrons and hexons are replaced by Majorana surface code patches, and parity measurements are replaced by lattice surgery, still only requiring local few-Majorana parity me…
We analyse the linear confinement of a Majorana fermion in $\left(1+1\right)$-dimensions. We show that the Dirac equation can be solved analytically. Besides, we show that the spectrum of energy is discrete, however, the energy levels are not equally spaced.
Kitaev's Pfaffian formula equates the ground-state fermion parity of a closed system to the sign of the Pfaffian of the Hamiltonian in the Majorana basis. Using Klich's theory of full counting statistics for paired fermions we generalize the Pfaffian formula to account for quantum fluctuations in the fermion parity of an open subsystem. A statistical description in the framework of random-matrix theory is used to answer the question when a vanishing fermion parity in a superconductor fusion experiment becomes a distinctive signature of an isolated Majorana zero-mode.
We consider Majorana fermion stabilizer codes with small number of modes and distance. We give an upper bound on the number of logical qubits for distance $4$ codes, and we construct Majorana fermion codes similar to the classical Hamming code that saturate this bound. We perform numerical studies and find other distance $4$ and $6$ codes that we conjecture have the largest possible number of logical qubits for the given number of physical Majorana modes. Some of these codes have more logical qubits than any Majorana fermion code derived from a qubit stabilizer code.
We present a quantum self-testing protocol to certify measurements of fermion parity involving Majorana fermion modes. We show that observing a set of ideal measurement statistics implies anti-commutativity of the implemented Majorana fermion parity operators, a necessary prerequisite for Majorana detection. Our protocol is robust to experimental errors. We obtain lower bounds on the fidelities of the state and measurement operators that are linear in the errors. We propose to analyze experimental outcomes in terms of a contextuality witness $W$, which satisfies $\langle W \rangle \le 3$ for a…
The problem of fermion dynamics is studied using the Q-function for fermions. This is a probabilistic phase-space representation, which we express using Majorana operators, so that the phase-space variable is a real antisymmetric matrix. We consider a general interaction Hamiltonian with four Majorana operators and arbitrary properties. Our model includes the Majorana Hubbard and Fermi Hubbard Hamiltonians, as well as general quantum field theories of interacting fermions. Using the Majorana Q-function we derive a generalized Fokker-Planck equation, with results for the drift and diffusion ter…
Quantum tomography is an important tool for the characterisation of quantum operations. In this paper, we present a framework of quantum tomography in fermionic systems. Compared with qubit systems, fermions obey the superselection rule, which sets constraints on states, processes and measurements in a fermionic system. As a result, we can only partly reconstruct an operation that acts on a subset of fermion modes, and the full reconstruction always requires at least one ancillary fermion mode in addition to the subset. We also report a protocol for the full reconstruction based on gates in Ma…
A Majorana fermion is the single fermionic particle that is its own antiparticle. Its dynamics is determined by the Majorana equation, where the spinor field is by definition equal to its charge-conjugate field. In this paper, we investigated Shannon's entropy of linear Majorana fermions to understand how this quantity is modified due to an external potential of the linear type linear. Subsequently, we turn our attention to the construction of an ensemble of these Majorana particles to study the thermodynamic properties of the model. Finally, we show how Shannon's entropy and thermodynamic pro…
Majorana fermions have recently garnered a great attention outside the field of particle physics, in condensed matter physics. In contrast to their particle physics counterparts, Majorana fermions are zero energy, chargeless, spinless, composite quasiparticles, residing at the boundaries of so-called topological superconductors. Furthermore, in opposition to any particles in the standard model, Majorana fermions in solid-state systems obey non-Abelian exchange statistics that make them attractive candidates for decoherence-free implementations of quantum computers. In this review, we report on…
A Majorana fermion is the single fermionic particle that is its own antiparticle. Its dynamics is determined by the Majorana equation where the spinor field $(ψ)$ is by definition equal to its charge-conjugate field $(ψ_c)$. Here, we study the dynamics of Majorana fermions in the presence of the most general static external field in $1+1$ dimensions, which is just a scalar potential, by implementing for the first time the methods of supersymmetric quantum mechanics. In particular, for potentials for which shape invariance holds, we show how to obtain analytical solutions. We find that although…
In this work we show the existence of supersymmetry and degeneracy for an arbitrary number of Majorana fermions (even or odd) without to invoke any symmetry of Hamiltonian. Next, we analyze the supersymmetry at finite temperature using the thermofield dynamics formalism. Furthermore we derive thermal braiding operators through the Bogoliubov transformations and we find its action on a thermal Bell state.
Fermionic phase space representations are a promising method for studying correlated fermion systems. The fermionic Q-function and P-function have been defined using Gaussian operators of fermion annihilation and creation operators. The resulting phase-space of covariance matrices belongs to the symmetry class D, one of the non-standard symmetry classes. This was originally proposed to study mesoscopic normal-metal-superconducting hybrid structures, which is the type of structure that has led to recent experimental observations of Majorana fermions. Under a unitary transformation, it is possib…
Many-body entanglement is studied within the algebraic approach to quantum physics in systems made of Majorana fermions. In this framework, the notion of separability stems from partitions of the algebra of observables and properties of the associated correlation functions, rather than on particle tensor products. This allows obtaining a complete characterization of non-separable Majorana fermion states. These results may find direct applications in quantum metrology: using Majorana systems, sub-shot noise accuracy in parameter estimations can be achieved without preliminary, resource consumin…
