Topological equivalence

The fact that the homotopy classes of paths (i.e. notion of equivalence on braids)
are relevant hints at a more subtle insight. It arises from the Feynman path
integral, in which all paths from an initial to final point in spacetime contribute
with an appropriate phase factor. Recall that the Feynman path integral can be
motivated from expanding the propagator using a method called time-slicing,[4] in
which time is discretized.

In non-homotopic paths, one cannot get from any point at one time slice to any
other point at the next time slice. This means that we can consider homotopic
equivalence class of paths to have different weighting factors.[5]

So it can be seen that the topological notion of equivalence comes from a study of
the Feynman path integral.[3]:28

For a more transparent way of seeing that the homotopic notion of equivalence is
the "right" one to use, see Aharonov–Bohm effect.
Experiment
Laughlin quasiparticle interferometer scanning electron micrograph of a
semiconductor device. The four light-grey regions are Au/Ti gates of undepleted
electrons; the blue curves are the edge channels from the equipotentials of these
undepleted electrons. The dark-grey curves are etched trenches depleted of
electrons, the blue dots are the tunneling junctions, the yellow dots are Ohmic
contacts. The electrons in the device are confined to a 2d plane.[6]

Daniel Tsui and Horst Störmer discovered the fractional quantum Hall effect in
1982. The mathematics developed by Leinaas and Myrheim proved to be useful to
Bertrand Halperin at Harvard University in explaining aspects of it. Frank Wilczek,
Dan Arovas, and Robert Schrieffer verified this statement in 1985 with an explicit
calculation that predicted that particles existing in these systems are in fact
anyons.

In 2005 a group of physicists at Stony Brook University constructed a quasiparticle

interferometer, detecting the patterns caused by interference of anyons, which were
interpreted to suggest that anyons are real, rather than just a mathematical
construct.[6] However, these experiments remain controversial and are not fully
accepted by the community.

With developments in semiconductor technology meaning that the deposition of thin

two-dimensional layers is possible – for example, in sheets of graphene – the long-
term potential to use the properties of anyons in electronics is being explored.