Speaker
Carlo Beenakker
(Instituut-Lorentz, Leiden University)
Description
Since Schrödinger we know that the fundamental equation of quantum mechanics contains the imaginary number i, the square root of minus one. This seems unavoidable, but in recent years we have discovered a class of materials that are described by a real wave equation. The materials are called topological superconductors and the particles that they host are called Majorana fermions. This topic is of fundamental interest, but it may also find applications in the context of quantum computers.
