The quantum Hall effect at 5/2 filling factor

Experimental discovery of a quantized Hall state at 5/2 filling factor presented an enigmatic finding in an established field of study that has remained an open issue for more than twenty years. In this review we first examine the experimental requirements for observing this state and outline the initial theoretical implications and predictions. We will then follow the chronology of experimental studies over the years and present the theoretical developments as they pertain to experiments, directed at sets of issues. These topics will include theoretical and experimental examination of the spin properties at 5/2; is the state spin polarized? What properties of the higher Landau levels promote development of the 5/2 state, what other correlation effects are observed there, and what are their interactions with the 5/2 state? The 5/2 state is not a robust example of the fractional quantum Hall effect: what experimental and material developments have allowed enhancement of the effect? Theoretical developments from initial pictures have promoted the possibility that 5/2 excitations are exceptional; do they obey non-abelian statistics? The proposed experiments to determine this and their executions in various forms will be presented: this is the heart of this review. Experimental examination of the 5/2 excitations through interference measurements will be reviewed in some detail, focusing on recent results that demonstrate consistency with the picture of non-abelian charges. The implications of this in the more general physics picture is that the 5/2 excitations, shown to be non-abelian, should exhibit the properties of Majorana operators. This will be the topic of the last review section.