Interacting Fibonacci anyons and defects in conformal field theory

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:10050019,
            doi = {10.48660/10050019},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/10050019},
            author = {Pfeifer, Robert},
            keywords = {Quantum Information},
            language = {en},
            title = {Interacting Fibonacci anyons and defects in conformal field theory},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2010},
            month = {may},
            note = {PIRSA:10050019 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }
          

Abstract

Fibonacci anyons are the simplest system of anyons capable of implementing universal topological quantum computation, an area which is of intense theoretical and experimental interest. Recent studies have shown that for nearest-neighbour interactions, the properties of the ground state of a 1-D chain of Fibonacci anyons may be modeled using a spin chain, and are related to specific conformal field theories. I will talk about the role played by boundary conditions in this mapping, and demonstrate that for these simple anyonic systems the correct spin chain models in fact correspond to conformal field theories with a defect. The presence of this defect drastically changes the excitations observable in the system.