By Andrew Grant
Blips of electric current at the end of an atom-thick wire have brought physicists one step closer to confirming the existence of Majorana fermions, particles proposed 77 years ago that are their own antiparticles.
The new experiment, described October 2 in Science, does not definitively prove that these particles exist. But it provides compelling evidence that complements findings from previous research.
“The level of evidence is enough for an arrest but not for the death penalty,” says Leo Kouwenhoven, a physicist at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, whose team has also seen hints of Majorana particles. If confirmed, these exotic particles could help scientists overcome a major barrier toward creating quantum computers.