Majorana 1: A quantum phenomenon

In a head-turning announcement earlier this week, Microsoft unveiled a new quantum chip called Majorana 1. Microsoft has said its new chip uses Majorana particles, elusive subatomic entities supposed to appear in materials called topological superconductors. Many previous attempts, including some Microsoft’s press release also claimed that a paper simultaneously published in Nature provided “peer-reviewed confirmation” that its team had created Majorana particles for use as qubits — but the paper, authored by the same team, stated that the work therein didn’t test whether the particles were really Majorana. Microsoft researcher Chetan Nayak later clarified on Mr. Aaronson’s blog that the team submitted the paper to Nature in March 2024 and that team members have “continued to make progress in the intervening year”.