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arXiv:1703.00459

Quantum Error Correction for Complex and Majorana Fermion Qubits

Sagar Vijay, Liang Fu

Published Mar 1, 2017• 18 citations
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Abstract

We introduce error-correcting codes that can correct for fermion parity-violating (quasiparticle poisoning) and parity-conserving errors in systems of complex fermions and of Majorana fermions. After establishing properties of fermion codes, we introduce a generic construction of fermion codes from weakly self-dual classical, binary error-correcting codes. We use this method to construct (i) the shortest fermion code to correct for quasiparticle poisoning errors, (ii) translationally-invariant fermion codes and (iii) other codes that correct higher-weight errors. We conclude by discussing a possible physical realizations of one such code in mesoscopic superconductors hosting Majorana zero modes.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1703.00459

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We introduce error-correcting codes that can correct for fermion parity-violating (quasiparticle poisoning) and parity-conserving errors in systems of complex fermions and of Majorana fermions. After establishing properties of fermion codes, we introduce a generic construction of fermion codes from weakly self-dual classical, binary error-correcting codes. We use this method to construct (i) the shortest fermion code to correct for quasiparticle poisoning errors, (ii) translationally-invariant fermion codes and (iii) other codes that correct higher-weight errors. We conclude by discussing a possible physical realizations of one such code in mesoscopic superconductors hosting Majorana zero modes.
Quantum computers based on Majorana fermions offer intrinsic robustness due to the topological nature of these quasiparticles. However, active quantum error correction is still necessary in order to perform fully protected quantum gates and reliably store information due to the presence of unwanted errors, such as quasiparticle poisoning. Here, the authors demonstrate that using networks of interacting Majorana particles achieves a higher error tolerance than traditional qubit-based quantum computers, thereby offering potential advantages for large-scale quantum information processing.
We initiate the study of Majorana fermion codes (MFCs). These codes can be viewed as extensions of Kitaev's one-dimensional (1D) model of unpaired Majorana fermions in quantum wires to higher spatial dimensions and interacting fermions. The purpose of MFCs is to protect quantum information against low-weight fermionic errors, that is, operators acting on sufficiently small subsets of fermionic modes. We examine to what extent MFCs can surpass qubit stabilizer codes in terms of their stability properties. A general construction of 2D MFCs is proposed that combines topological protection based on a macroscopic code distance with protection based on fermionic parity conservation. Finally, we use MFCs to show how to transform any qubit stabilizer code to a weakly self-dual CSS code.
Quasiparticle poisoning has remained one of the main challenges in the implementation of Majorana-based quantum computing. It inevitably occurs when the system hosting Majorana qubits is not completely isolated from its surrounding, thus considerably limiting its computational time. We propose the use of periodic driving to generate multiple Majorana fermions at each end of a single quantum wire, which naturally provides the necessary resources to implement active quantum error corrections with minimal space overhead. In particular, we present a stabilizer code protocol that can specifically detect and correct any single quasiparticle poisoning event. Such a protocol is implementable via existing proximitized semiconducting nanowire proposals, where all of its stabilizer operators can be measured from an appropriate Majorana parity dependent four-terminal conductance.
The tetron architecture is a promising candidate for topological quantum computation. Each tetron Majorana island has four Majorana zero modes, and possible measurements are constrained to span zero or two Majoranas per tetron. Such measurements are known to be sufficient for correcting so-called "bosonic errors," which affect an even number of Majoranas per tetron. We demonstrate that such measurements are also sufficient for correcting "fermionic errors," which affect an odd number of Majoranas per tetron. In contrast, previous proposals for "fermionic error correction" on tetrons introduce more experimental challenges. We show that "fermionic codes" can be derived from traditional "bosonic codes" by inclusion of tetrons in the stabilizer group.
Fermionic platforms offer compelling architectures for quantum computing, ranging from topologically protected Majorana-based qubits to fermionic cold atoms. To achieve scalability, however, they require quantum error correction. In this work, we prove that any exact and sufficiently accurate approximate fermionic quantum error correction necessarily requires non-Gaussian operations, beyond the free-fermion regime of quadratic dynamics. This is in sharp contrast to the qubit setting, where the efficiently classically simulable stabilizer operations form the standard framework for quantum error correction. Specifically, we show that the logical space of any non-trivial fermionic error-correcting code contains no pure fermionic Gaussian state, utilizing a fundamental incompatibility between fermionic error correction and Wick's theorem. We further show that the required number of bounded-weight non-Gaussian gates for unitary codeword preparation grows at least linearly with both the code distance and the number of encoded modes, revealing an intrinsic resource overhead that increases simultaneously with error-protection strength and logical capacity. Furthermore, we analyze the performance of fermionic Gaussian operations in entanglement distillation, revealing a distinction from their bosonic counterparts. Our results reveal fundamental difficulties for fermionic error correction from the perspectives of both physical implementation and classical simulation, suggesting connections to fermionic phases of matter and state preparation complexity.
Majorana-based quantum computing seeks to use the non-local nature of Majorana zero modes to store and manipulate quantum information in a topologically protected way. While noise is anticipated to be significantly suppressed in such systems, finite temperature and system size result in residual errors. In this work, we connect the underlying physical error processes in Majorana-based systems to the noise models used in a fault tolerance analysis. Standard qubit-based noise models built from Pauli operators do not capture leading order noise processes arising from quasiparticle poisoning events, thus it is not obvious a priori that such noise models can be usefully applied to a Majorana-based system. We develop stochastic Majorana noise models that are generalizations of the standard qubit-based models and connect the error probabilities defining these models to parameters of the physical system. Using these models, we compute pseudo-thresholds for the d=5 Bacon-Shor subsystem code. Our results emphasize the importance of correlated errors induced in multi-qubit measurements. Moreover, we find that for sufficiently fast quasiparticle relaxation the errors are well described by Pauli operators. This work bridges the divide between physical errors in Majorana-based quantum computing architectures and the significance of these errors in a quantum error correcting code.