Non-abelian anyons

Question, Web Fundamentals.svg Unsolved problem in physics:

Is topological order stable at non-zero temperature?
(more unsolved problems in physics)

In 1988, Jürg Fröhlich showed that it was valid under the spin–statistics theorem
for the particle exchange to be monoidal (non-abelian statistics).[7] In
particular, this can be achieved when the system exhibits some degeneracy, so that
multiple distinct states of the system have the same configuration of particles.
Then an exchange of particles can contribute not just a phase change, but can send
the system into a different state with the same particle configuration. Particle
exchange then corresponds to a linear transformation on this subspace of degenerate
states. When there is no degeneracy, this subspace is one-dimensional and so all
such linear transformations commute (because they are just multiplications by a
phase factor). When there is degeneracy and this subspace has higher dimension,
then these linear transformations need not commute (just as matrix multiplication
does not).

Gregory Moore, Nicholas Read, and Xiao-Gang Wen pointed out that non-Abelian
statistics can be realized in the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE).[8][9]
While at first non-abelian anyons were generally considered a mathematical
curiosity, physicists began pushing toward their discovery when Alexei Kitaev
showed that non-abelian anyons could be used to construct a topological quantum
computer. As of 2012, no experiment has conclusively demonstrated the existence of
non-abelian anyons although promising hints are emerging in the study of the ν =
5/2 FQHE state.[10][11] Experimental evidence of non-abelian anyons, although not
yet conclusive and currently contested,[12] was presented in October, 2013.[