NBIA/QDev Condensed Matter Seminar by Erez Berg

Non-abelian anyons on fractional topological insulator edges

Edge states of topological insulators can be gapped out by introducing
a coupling to a superconductor or by breaking time reversal
symmetry.The interface between these two types of gapped regions hosts
a Majorana zero mode. Here, we extend this idea to the case of edge
states of fractional topological insulators. We show that as more
interfaces are introduced, the ground state degeneracy grows with a
quantum dimension corresponding to a new family of non-abelian anyons.
Topologically protected braiding of two anyons can be achieved by a
sequence of operations on the ground state manifold. We show that
these operations form representations of the braid group which are
richer than that of Ising anyons. We discuss possible realizations of
these ideas in experimentally accessible solid state systems.