Weird particles that remember where they have been were finally caught in a lab.
Non-Abelian anyons are theoretical particles that are not quite matter and not quite light, existing only in two-dimensional spaces. This experiment measured a specific fractional entropy that proves these particles exist and can store information in their physical paths. Because they remember their history, they can be used to weave braids of data that are immune to outside interference or noise. This is the first direct experimental evidence that these particles can be controlled and measured in a real system. Harnessing this effect would allow for the creation of stable, error-proof quantum processors that never lose their data.
Experimental Evidence of Fractional Entropy in Critical Kondo Systems
arXiv · 2605.00669
Unconventional quantum states defying the ubiquitous Fermi-liquid paradigm can emerge in the presence of strong electronic correlations. Among these, non-Abelian anyons - such as Majorana zero modes and Fibonacci anyons - are of particular interest for topological quantum computing due to their non-integer quantum dimensions d>1, which allows for protected non-local encoding and processing of quantum information. However, despite considerable efforts, the unambiguous characterisation of such any