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arXiv:2403.13879 · PRX Quantum

Noisy Approach to Intrinsically Mixed-State Topological Order

Ramanjit Sohal, Abhinav Prem

Published Jan 21, 2025• 62 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose a general framework for studying two-dimensional (2D) topologically ordered states subject to local correlated errors and show that the resulting mixed state can display (imTO)—topological order that is not expected to occur in the ground state of 2D local gapped Hamiltonians. Specifically, we show that decoherence, previously interpreted as anyon condensation in a doubled Hilbert space, is more naturally phrased as, and provides a physical mechanism for, “gauging out” anyons in the original Hilbert space. We find that gauging out anyons generically results in imTO, with the decohered mixed state strongly symmetric under certain anomalous 1-form symmetries. This framework lays bare a striking connection between the decohered density matrix and , which can appear as anomalous surface states of three-dimensional topological orders. Through a series of examples, we show that the decohered state can display a classical memory, encode logical qubits (i.e., exhibit a quantum memory), and even host chiral or nonmodular topological order. We argue that a partial classification of imTO is given in terms of nonmodular braided-fusion categories.

DOI
10.1103/prxquantum.6.010313

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We propose a general framework for studying two-dimensional (2D) topologically ordered states subject to local correlated errors and show that the resulting mixed state can display (imTO)—topological order that is not expected to occur in the ground state of 2D local gapped Hamiltonians. Specifically, we show that decoherence, previously interpreted as anyon condensation in a doubled Hilbert space, is more naturally phrased as, and provides a physical mechanism for, “gauging out” anyons in the original Hilbert space. We find that gauging out anyons generically results in imTO, with the decohered mixed state strongly symmetric under certain anomalous 1-form symmetries. This framework lays bare a striking connection between the decohered density matrix and , which can appear as anomalous surface states of three-dimensional topological orders. Through a series of examples, we show that the decohered state can display a classical memory, encode logical qubits (i.e., exhibit a quantum memory), and even host chiral or nonmodular topological order. We argue that a partial classification of imTO is given in terms of nonmodular braided-fusion categories.
The classification and characterization of topological phases of matter is well understood for ground states of gapped Hamiltonians that are well isolated from the environment. However, decoherence due to interactions with the environment is inevitable—thus motivating the investigation of topological orders in the context of mixed states. Here, we take a step toward classifying mixed-state topological orders in two spatial dimensions by considering their (emergent) generalized symmetries. We argue that their 1-form symmetries and the associated anyon theories lead to a partial classification under two-way connectivity by quasilocal quantum channels. This allows us to establish mixed-state topological orders that are intrinsically mixed, i.e., that have no ground-state counterpart. We provide a wide range of examples based on topological subsystem codes, decohering G -graded string-net models, and “classically gauging” symmetry-enriched topological orders. One of our main examples is an Ising string-net model under the influence of dephasing noise. We study the resulting space of locally indistinguishable states and compute the modular transformations within a particular coherent space. Based on our examples, we identify two possible effects of quasilocal quantum channels on anyon theories: (1) anyons can be incoherently proliferated—thus reducing to a commutant of the proliferated anyons, or (2) the system can be “classically gauged,” resulting in the symmetrization of anyons and an extension by transparent bosons. Given these two mechanisms, we conjecture that mixed-state topological orders are classified by premodular anyon theories, i.e., those for which the braiding relations may be degenerate.
Decoherence is a major obstacle to the preparation of topological order in noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices. Here, we show that decoherence can also give rise to new types of topological order. Specifically, we construct concrete examples by proliferating fermionic anyons in the toric code via local quantum channels. The resulting mixed states retain long-range entanglement, which manifests in the nonzero topological entanglement negativity, though the topological quantum memory is destroyed by decoherence. By comparison with the gapless spin liquid in pure states, we show that the identified states represent a novel intrinsic mixed-state topological order, which has no counterpart in pure states. Through the lens of quantum anomalies of 1-form symmetries, we then provide general constructions of intrinsic mixed-state topological order and reveal the existence of nonbosonic deconfined anyons as another key feature of these novel phases. The extended meaning and characterization of deconfined excitations and their statistics in mixed states are clarified. Moreover, when these deconfined anyons have nontrivial braiding statistics, we prove that the mixed states cannot be prepared via finite-depth local quantum channels from any bipartite separable states. We further demonstrate our construction using the decohered Kitaev honeycomb model and the decohered double-semion model. In the latter case, a surprising scenario arises where decoherence gives rise to additional types of deconfined anyons.
Discovering quantum orders in mixed many-body systems is an ongoing issue. Very recently, the notion of an intrinsic mixed state topologically-ordered (IMTO) state was proposed. As a concrete example, we observe the emergence of IMTO by studying the toric code system under stochastic maximal decoherence by ZXZXZX-diagonal type projective measurement without monitoring. We study how the toric code state changes to an IMTO state at the level of the averaged quantum trajectories. This phase transition is understood from the viewpoint of spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) of 1-form weak symmetry, that is, the IMTO is characterized by the symmetry restoration from the SSB, which comes from the proliferation of anyons. To understand the emergent IMTO, order and disorder parameters of 1-form symmetry are numerically studied by stabilizer simulation. The present study clarifies the existence of two distinct microscopic string operators for the fermionic anyons, that leads to distinct fermionic strong and weak 1-form symmetries, and also the obtained critical exponents indicate strong relation between IMTO and percolation.
We construct large families of mixed-state topological orders in (3+1)D, including intrinsically mixed-state topological orders. We realize these theories by relating the data parameterizing braided fusion 2-categories to the strong higher-form symmetries and their anomalies that characterize mixed-state topological order. We focus here on bosonic theories, which include theories which admit an emergent fermion in the spectrum of line operators. Our general framework is exemplified on the lattice, where we present concrete models and identify how the data of braided fusion 2-categories are physically encoded. We then formalize this data and show that every braided fusion 2-category arises from a general construction (decoherence followed by strong and weak gauging) as the category of topological operators of a (3+1)D mixed state, with intrinsically mixed-state topological orders distinguished by the presence of strong higher-form symmetries whose anomalies cannot be realized in any (3+1)D gapped ground state. Notably, we show that (3+1)D admits a new mechanism with no (2+1)D counterpart: intrinsically mixed-state order whose topological operators braid non-degenerately, but which carries a gravitational anomaly.
We develop an effective field theory characterizing the impact of decoherence on states with Abelian topological order and on their capacity to protect quantum information. The decoherence appears as a temporal defect in the double topological quantum field theory that describes the pure density matrix of the uncorrupted state, and it drives a boundary phase transition involving anyon condensation at a critical coupling strength. The ensuing decoherence-induced phases and the loss of quantum information are classified by the Lagrangian subgroups of the double topological order. Our framework generalizes the error recovery transitions, previously derived for certain stabilizer codes, to generic topologically ordered states and shows that they stem from phase transitions in the intrinsic topological order characterizing the mixed state.
Tensor networks are an efficient platform for representing topological states of matter as well as computing both physical observables and information-theoretic quantities. We present a general protocol to construct tensor network representations for intrinsically mixed-state topological phases. Such phases naturally emerge in noisy long-range entangled quantum systems, and exhibit nontrivial topological phenomena without pure-state counterparts. The method exploits the isomorphism between anyon decoherence in the physical Hilbert space and anyon condensation in the corresponding Choi space. The protocol is applicable to a broad class of systems arising from decoherence of pure-state topological phases, where the incoherent noise creates excitations in the Choi space that have trivial monodromy with all excitations. Representative examples at renormalization group fixed points include maebm^a e^bmaeb decoherence in the ZN\Z_NZN​ toric code, decohered non-Abelian quantum double of S3S_3S3​ as well as pure ZZZ/XXX decoherence of arbitrary CSS codes. Another notable example is that of the mixed-state chiral semion, whose tensor network representation has no pure-state analogue. We then generalize the formalism beyond RG fixed points and, as an example, examine the decoherence transition in a Z3\mathbb{Z}_3Z3​ toric code channel that suffers from sign problem when mapped to a statistical mechanical model. Together, these results establish tensor networks as a natural platform for analyzing noisy intrinsically mixed-state topological matter.