quasiparticle

This new state of matter called the Majorana zero mode is made up of quasiparticles, which act as their own particle and antiparticle.

The researchers intend to use their technique to study more exotic physics in related materials, such as anyons, a new type of quasiparticle that could enable a route to quantum computation.

They are called quasiparticles, to distinguish them from actual particles like electrons or ions.

If there’s an odd number of electrons in the wire, the unpaired electron should essentially split in half to form two separated Majorana quasiparticles—one at each end of the wire.

First put forward 67 years ago, the quasiparticle is a concept physicists use to represent the combined effect of those interactions as a single quantum object for the purposes of quantum mechanical calculations.