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<p class="MsoPlainTextCxSpFirst"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Please take note of Colloquium taking place today, Tuesday, September 4, 2012 at 4:00 PM in The Robert Smith Seminar Room. There will be a reception in the Atrium at 3:45 PM. Details concerning
the talk are as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainTextCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainTextCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Speaker: Sankar Das Sarma – University of Maryland<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainTextCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Date: Tuesday, September 4, 2012<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainTextCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Time: 4:00 PM<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainTextCxSpLast"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Place: The Robert Smith Seminar Room<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h1 style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Title:
</span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">"Computing with quantum knots: Majorana modes, non-Abelian anyons, and topological quantum computation"<o:p></o:p></span></h1>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif"">Abstract: </span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#222222">I will discuss the
revolutionary new concept of topological quantum computation, which is fault-tolerant at the hardware level with no need, in principle, of any quantum error correction protocols. Errors simply do not occur since the physical qubits and the computation steps
are protected against decoherence by non-local topological correlations in the underlying physical system. The key idea is non-Abelian statistics of the quasiparticles (called 'anyons' as opposed to fermions or bosons), where the space-time braiding of the
anyons around each other, i.e. quantum 'knots', form topologically protected quantum gate operations. I will describe in detail the theoretical principles guiding the experimental search for the appropriate topological phases of matter where such non-Abelian
anyons, which are low-dimensional solid state versions of the elusive and exotic Majorana fermions hypothesized seventy-five years ago, may exist. I will critically discuss the recent experimental claims of observing the Majorana modes in semiconductor nanowire
structures following earlier theoretical proposals, outlining the future developments which would be necessary to eventually build a topological quantum computer. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Georgia","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">The website for the Colloquium is
<a href="https://physics.osu.edu/physics-colloquium-schedule">https://physics.osu.edu/physics-colloquium-schedule</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Georgia","serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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