Demonstrating non-Abelian statistics of Majorana fermions using twist defects

Abstract: We study the twist defects in the toric code model introduced by Bombin [Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 030403 (2010)]. Using a generalized 2D Jordan-Wigner transformation, we show explicitly the twist defects carry unpaired Majorana zero modes. We also draw the same conclusion using two alternative approaches of a perturbation theory and a projective construction. We propose a quantum non-demolition measurement scheme of the parity of Majorana modes. Such a scheme provides an alternative avenue to demonstrate the non-Abelian statistics of Majorana fermions with measurement-based braidings.