Round 9: Tossup 1

A February 2025 Nature paper found that the parity of states named for this scientist at the opposite end of a 1DTS can be measured in a single shot using a stack of indium arsenide and aluminum. Linking states named for this scientist in a 1D lattice and considering the nearest neighbor produces a Kitaev chain. Microsoft claims to have created topoconductors in their new quantum computer named “[this scientist] (*) 1.” Setting the Dirac operator to be purely Hermitian in the Dirac equation produces a relativistic wave equation named for this scientist. Particles named for Fermi and this scientist are observed in bound states called “zero modes” and would have their existence confirmed by observing neutrinoless double beta decay. For 10 points, what Italian physicist (10[1])names fermions that are their own antiparticle? (10[1])■END■

ANSWER: Ettore Majorana (“ma-yo-RA-na”) [accept Majorana equation or Majorana fermion or Majorana 1 or Majorana zero modes]
<BC, Physics> | NAFTA-Packet-9
= Average correct buzzpoint

Back to tossups

Buzzes


Summary

TournamentEditionMatchHeardConv. %Power %Neg %Avg. Buzz
2026 NAFTA at Stanford01/17/20264100%50%25%86.75
2026 NAFTA at UBC01/17/20262100%0%0%127.50
2025 NAFTA Online02/14/2026475%25%25%101.67
2026 NAFTA at Vanderbilt02/14/2026367%33%33%94.50
2025 NAFTA at Toronto09/13/20255100%40%0%93.80
2025 NAFTA at Maryland09/27/20255100%20%40%110.40
2025 NAFTA at Harvard10/04/20252100%50%50%83.00
2025 NAFTA at Oxford10/11/20253100%33%0%102.33
2025 NAFTA at Chicago11/08/2025683%17%50%111.40
2025 NAFTA at Columbia11/08/2025560%40%20%66.67
2025 NAFTA at Richmond12/20/20252100%0%0%124.50