We consider measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC) on thermal states of the interacting cluster Hamiltonian containing interactions between the cluster stabilizers that undergoes thermal phase transitions. We show that the long-range order of the symmetry breaking thermal states below a critical temperature drastically enhances the robustness of MBQC against thermal excitations. Specifically, we show the enhancement in two-dimensional cases and prove that MBQC is topologically protected below the critical temperature in three-dimensional cases. The interacting cluster Hamiltonian allows us to perform MBQC even at a temperature 1 order of magnitude higher than that of the free cluster Hamiltonian.
We consider measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC) on thermal states of the interacting cluster Hamiltonian containing interactions between the cluster stabilizers that undergoes thermal phase transitions. We show that the long-range order of the symmetry breaking thermal states below a critical temperature drastically enhances the robustness of MBQC against thermal excitations. Specifically, we show the enhancement in two-dimensional cases and prove that MBQC is topologically protected below the critical temperature in three-dimensional cases. The interacting cluster Hamiltonian allows us to perform MBQC even at a temperature 1 order of magnitude higher than that of the free cluster Hamiltonian.
Recently, Li et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 060501 (2011)] have demonstrated that topologically protected measurement-based quantum computation can be implemented on the thermal state of a nearest-neighbor two-body Hamiltonian with spin-2 and spin-3/2 particles provided that the temperature is smaller than a critical value, namely, threshold temperature. Here we show that the thermal state of a nearest-neighbor two-body Hamiltonian, which consists of only spin-3/2 particles, allows us to perform topologically protected measurement-based quantum computation. The threshold temperature is calculated and turns out to be comparable to that with the spin-2 and spin-3/2 system. Furthermore, we generally show that a cluster state of high connectivity can be efficiently generated from the thermal state of the spin-3/2 system without severe thermal noise accumulation.
We address the question of whether symmetry-protected topological (SPT) order can persist at nonzero temperature, with a focus on understanding the thermal stability of several models studied in the theory of quantum computation. We present three results in this direction. First, we prove that nontrivial SPT order protected by a global onsite symmetry cannot persist at nonzero temperature, demonstrating that several quantum computational structures protected by such onsite symmetries are not thermally stable. Second, we prove that the three-dimensional (3D) cluster-state model used in the formulation of topological measurement-based quantum computation possesses a nontrivial SPT-ordered thermal phase when protected by a generalized (1-form) symmetry. The SPT order in this model is detected by long-range localizable entanglement in the thermal state, which compares with related results characterizing SPT order at zero temperature in spin chains using localizable entanglement as an order parameter. Our third result is to demonstrate that the high-error tolerance of this 3D cluster-state model for quantum computation, even without a protecting symmetry, can be understood as an application of quantum error correction to effectively enforce a 1-form symmetry.
The two-dimensional cluster state, a universal resource for measurement-based quantum computation, is also the gapped ground state of a short-ranged Hamiltonian. Here, we examine the effect of perturbations to this Hamiltonian. We prove that, provided the perturbation is sufficiently small and respects a certain symmetry, the perturbed ground state remains a universal resource. We do this by characterizing the operation of an adaptive measurement protocol throughout a suitable symmetry-protected quantum phase, relying on generic properties of the phase rather than any analytic control over the ground state.
In recent years, topological phases of matter have presented exciting new avenues to achieve scalable quantum computation. In this thesis, we investigate a class of quantum many-body spin models known as symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases for use in quantum information processing and storage. We explore the fault-tolerant properties of SPT phases, and how they can be utilized in the design of a quantum computer. Of central importance in this thesis is the concept of quantum error-correction, which in addition to its importance in fault-tolerant quantum computation, is used to characterise the stability of topological phases at finite temperature. We begin with an introduction to quantum computation, quantum error correction, and topological phases of matter. We then focus on the fundamental question of whether symmetry-protected topological phases of matter can exist in thermal equilibrium; we prove that systems protected by global onsite symmetries cannot be ordered at nonzero temperature. Subsequently, we show that certain three-dimensional models with generalised higher-form symmetries can be thermally SPT ordered, and we relate this order to the ability to perform fault-tolerant measurement-based quantum computation. Following this, we assess feasibility of these phases as quantum memories, motivated by the fact that SPT phases in three dimensions can possess protected topological degrees of freedom on their boundary. We find that certain SPT ordered systems can be self-correcting, allowing quantum information to be stored for arbitrarily long times without requiring active error correction. Finally, we develop a framework to construct new schemes of fault-tolerant measurement-based quantum computation. As a notable example, we develop a cluster-state scheme that simulates the braiding and fusion of surface-code defects, offering novel alternative methods to achieve fault-tolerant universal quantum computation.
We extend the hidden symmetry breaking picture, first proposed by Kennedy and Tasaki in the context of the Haldane phase, to a wider class of symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases. We construct a generalization of the Kennedy-Tasaki transformation that transforms SPT phases into symmetry-breaking phases and relates long-range order in the latter to the more subtle “string order” in the former. In doing so we directly connect the form of the Kennedy-Tasaki transformation to the modern formulation of SPT order. We apply our generalized Kennedy-Tasaki transformation to solve the following problem in quantum information theory. We consider the 2-D cluster state, a simple “toy model” of a locally interacting system whose ground state is a universal resource for MBQC. We prove that, in the presence of a perturbation to the interaction Hamiltonian, the perturbed ground state remains a universal resource. We do this by using the generalized Kennedy-Tasaki transformation to prove that, if we employ the techniques of fault-tolerant quantum computation, the ground states of models in an appropriate SPT phases can serve as universal resources for MBQC provided that the symmetry-breaking is sufficiently strong in the symmetry-breaking phase obtained through the generalized Kennedy-Tasaki transformation.
In this work, we generalize the algebraic framework for measurement-based quantum computation (MBQC) in one-dimensional symmetry protected topological states recently developed in [Quantum 7, 1215 (2023)], such that in addition to half-odd-integer spins, the integer spin chains can also be incorporated in the framework. The computational order parameter characterizing the efficiency of MBQC is identified, which, for spin-1 chains in the Haldane phase, coincides with the conventional string order parameter in condensed matter physics.