We describe a quantum error-detecting and error-correcting code embedded within irreducible representations of SU(3). These logical qutrits inherit the He(3) symmetries induced by the representation, while protecting against small SU(3) displacements. We explore the general methodology for finding codes from structure-inducing representations of groups, together with symmetries inherited from finite subgroups, extending the case of spin representations of SU(2).
We describe a quantum error-detecting and error-correcting code embedded within irreducible representations of SU(3). These logical qutrits inherit the He(3) symmetries induced by the representation, while protecting against small SU(3) displacements. We explore the general methodology for finding codes from structure-inducing representations of groups, together with symmetries inherited from finite subgroups, extending the case of spin representations of SU(2).
Typical stabilizer codes aim to solve the general problem of fault-tolerance without regard for the structure of a specific system. By incorporating a broader representation-theoretic perspective, we provide a generalized framework that allows the code designer to take this structure into account. For any representation of a finite group, we produce a quantum code with a code space invariant under the group action, providing passive error mitigation against errors belonging to the image of the representation. Furthermore, errors outside this scope are detected and diagnosed by performing a projective measurement onto the isotypic components corresponding to irreducible representations of the chosen group, effectively generalizing syndrome extraction to symmetry-resolved quantum measurements. We show that all stabilizer codes are a special case of this construction, including qudit stabilizer codes, and show that there is a natural one logical qubit code associated to the dihedral group. Thus we provide a unifying framework for existing codes while simultaneously facilitating symmetry-aware codes tailored to specific systems.
Dynamical decoupling is a long-established and effective way to suppress unwanted interactions in qubit systems, enabling advances in fields ranging from quantum metrology to quantum computing. For general qudit systems, however, comparable protocols remain rare, mainly because Hamiltonian engineering in higher dimensions lacks the geometric intuition available for qubits. Here we present a general framework for dynamical decoupling in qudit systems, based on Lie group representation theory. By extending the group theory approach to dynamical decoupling, we show how decoupling groups can be systematically identified among the finite subgroups of SU(d) by analyzing their access to the irreducible components of the operator space. As an application, we construct new pulse sequences for interacting qutrit systems based on finite subgroups of SU(3), and show how subgroup factorizations and group orientations can be exploited to obtain shorter and more experimentally practical protocols for spin-1 systems with large zero-field splitting. We further show that the same symmetry-based framework yields quantum error-correcting codes: whenever a finite subgroup of SU(d) acts as a decoupling group for the relevant set of operators, the associated one-dimensional symmetry sectors define codespaces satisfying the Knill-Laflamme conditions, thereby unifying dynamical decoupling and quantum error correction in multi-level quantum systems.
Bosonic codes offer a promising approach towards hardware-efficient fault tolerance, with many leading examples such as the cat-code and the GKP code organized by an underlying symmetry. We build on a representation-theoretic framework of quantum error correction to formalize the construction and analysis of multimode symmetric bosonic codes, focusing on finite groups. Here, a physical, logical representation and an initial seed state together define the codewords via a covariant encoding. A central observation is that QEC matrices can be viewed as morphisms of group representations, so that Schur's lemma forces entire irreducible representations blocks to vanish. We recover several known single- and two-mode bosonic codes and build and analyze the error protection capabilities of three codes based on finite subgroups of SU(2). We analyze the impact of reducibility of the logical representation and optimize the seed state using the near-optimal fidelity.
We introduce an intrinsic formulation of quantum error correction based on representation theory, in which error-protection structure is encoded directly in a unitary group representation, rather than being tied to a particular embedding into a larger Hilbert space. In this framework, error models are classified according to the isotypic decomposition of the conjugation action on the operator algebra.
Our main result, the \emph{Schur bootstrap}, shows that if an intrinsic code satisfies the Knill--Laflamme conditions on a given symmetry sector, then the same error-protection relations hold for every extrinsic realization obtained from a group-equivariant isometric embedding into a larger Hilbert space. Thus a single intrinsic verification certifies the corresponding symmetry-resolved error-correction conditions across an entire family of physical realizations.
We further introduce an intrinsic notion of distance, called depth, defined via adjoint order. For standard multi-qudit systems this coincides with conventional code distance, while for more general representations it refines the usual weight-based notion. We also prove an intrinsic Eastin--Knill theorem: any intrinsic code of depth at least two has a discrete logical symmetry group, with the obstruction to continuous covariant gates arising from the representation-theoretic structure of the adjoint action.
We illustrate the framework with several examples, including a minimal SU(2) construction that unifies permutation-invariant qubit codes and bosonic codes, and higher-dimensional constructions exhibiting transversal Clifford symmetries and realizations beyond qubit systems.
We connect the structure theorem for quasiprobability representations to quantum error correction. For a code space invariant under a subgroup of an extended Weyl-Heisenberg group, the Brif-Mann construction gives a semi-functorial representation whenever its kernel satisfies the Stratonovich-Weyl axioms, and composes on channels covering full error-correction cycles. With phase-space parity available, a kernel other than the ordinary Wigner one exists iff the code space is invariant under a lattice of displacements: among compact-phase-space bosonic codes, this is only the ideal Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill family; in finite dimension, this is every qudit stabiliser code, whose negative volume for odd prime dimension is the syndrome-averaged logical magic. For rotation-symmetric, one-photon, non-Pauli qudit and spin codes only the ordinary kernel remains, its negativity reflecting the physical carrier, not logical content; a sector-graded representation built from recovery isometries restores a resource reading. We add a channel atlas, a closed-form magic lifetime under displacement noise, a Kirkwood-Dirac layer, and finite-energy corrections.
Qudits naturally correspond to multilevel quantum systems, which have the potential to enable more efficient quantum information processing, but their reliability is contingent upon quantum error-correction capabilities. In this paper, we present a general procedure for constructing error-correcting qudit codes through the irreducible representations of SU ( d ) for any odd integer d ≥ 3 . Using the Weyl character formula and inner product of characters, we deduce the relevant branching rules, through which we identify the physical Hilbert spaces that contain valid code spaces. We then discuss how two forms of permutation invariance and the Heisenberg-Weyl symmetry of su ( d ) can be exploited to simplify the construction of error-correcting codes. Finally, we use our procedure to construct an infinite class of error-correcting codes encoding a logical qudit into ( d − 1 ) 2 physical qudits.