Majorana zero modes have been the object of immense interest in the condensed matter and quantum computing community ever since Kitaev, Moore, and Read showed that these elusive particles can be realized as physically isolated modes in certain unconventional superconductors. Given a set of such isolated Majorana zero modes, one can in principle create qubits that are robust to local environmental noise, and which can be manipulated by braiding these modes.

Recently, there are numerous developments in the field ranging from new experimental platforms for realizing Majorana modes (in iron-based superconductors, phase controlled Josephson junctions, on ferromagnetic EuS islands deposited on gold-superconductor heterostructures, in quantum Hall systems, among others) and new theoretical methods to circumventing key issues plaguing the previous generation of experiments (Floquet theory, new methods to conclusively detect Majorana fermions, and realizations in non-Hermitian Hamiltonians and dissipative models). This KITP program will bring together leading experimentalists and theorists working towards the realization of Majorana zero modes to push forward on these developments.

This 2-day exploration event will feature 8 talks divided into 4 sessions along with brainstorming discussions for each session.

Confirmed speakers: Philip Kim (Harvard), Felix von Oppen (Berlin), Jagadeesh Moodera (MIT), Elsa Prada (Madrid), Roman Lutchyn (Station Q), Kartiek Agarwal (McGill)

Confirmed discussion leaders: Ady Stern (Weizmann), Karsten Flensberg (NBI)