Evidence for the Majorana fermion, a particle that’s its own antiparticle — ScienceDaily

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170720142321.htm

In a discovery that concludes an 80-year quest, researchers found evidence of particles that are their own antiparticles. These ‘Majorana fermions’ could one day help make quantum computers more robust.

Far in the future, Zhang said, Majorana fermions could be used to construct robust quantum computers that aren’t thrown off by environmental noise, which has been a big obstacle to their development. Since each Majorana is essentially half a subatomic particle, a single qubit of information could be stored in two widely separated Majorana fermions.

Video showing background theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbJSAOngiGI

Source: Stanford University. “Evidence for the Majorana fermion, a particle that’s its own antiparticle.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 20 July 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170720142321.htm>.