Ising Anyons — Braiding & Topological Quantum Gates

Non-Abelian Anyons

Ising anyons are non-Abelian quasiparticles: braiding two of them applies a unitary matrix (not just a phase) to the degenerate ground state. This is topological quantum computation.

The Ising model has three anyon types: 1 (vacuum), σ (Ising anyon), ψ (fermion). Fusion rules: σ×σ = 1+ψ, σ×ψ = σ.

Braiding σ around σ gives the matrix: R = e^{iπ/8} · (1/√2) [[1, i],[i, 1]] — a √NOT gate. Two braidings = NOT. Topologically protected from local errors.

Fusion: σ ⊗ σ = 1 ⊕ ψ
R¹_σσ = e^{−iπ/8}
R^ψ_σσ = e^{i3π/8}
B₁₂ = (1/√2)[[1,i],[i,1]]