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Witness algebra and anyon braiding

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2020

Andreas Blass
Affiliation:
Mathematics Department, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI48109-1043, USA
Yuri Gurevich*
Affiliation:
Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI48109-2121, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: gurevich@umich.edu

Abstract

Topological quantum computation employs two-dimensional quasiparticles called anyons. The generally accepted mathematical basis for the theory of anyons is the framework of modular tensor categories. That framework involves a substantial amount of category theory and is, as a result, considered rather difficult to understand. Is the complexity of the present framework necessary? The computations of associativity and braiding matrices can be based on a much simpler framework, which looks less like category theory and more like familiar algebra. We introduce that framework here.

Type
Paper
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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