In order to perform universal fault-tolerant quantum computation, one needs to implement a logical non-Clifford gate. Consequently, it is important to understand codes that implement such gates transversally. In this paper, we adopt an algebraic approach to characterize all stabilizer codes for which transversal T and T†gates preserve the codespace. Our Heisenberg perspective reduces this question to a finite geometry problem that translates to the design of certain classical codes. We prove three corollaries of this result: (a) For any non-degenerate [n, k, d] stabilizer code supporting a physical transversal T (which might not be logical T), there exists an [n, k, d]] CSS code with the same property; (b) Triorthogonal codes form the most general family of CSS codes that realize logical transversal T via physical transversal T; (c) Triorthogonality is necessary for physical transversal T on a CSS code to realize the logical identity. The main tool we use is a recent characterization of a particular family of diagonal gates in the Clifford hierarchy that are efficiently described by symmetric matrices over rings of integers [N. Rengaswamy et al., Phys. Rev. A 100, 022304]. We refer to these operations as Quadratic Form Diagonal (QFD) gates. Our framework generalizes all existing stabilizer code constructions that realize logical gates via transversal T. We provide several examples of codes and briefly discuss connections to decreasing monomial codes, pin codes, generalized triorthogonality and quasitransversality. We partially extend these results towards characterizing all stabilizer codes that support transversal π/2ℓZ-rotations. In particular, using Ax's theorem on residue weights of polynomials, we provide an alternate characterization of logical gates induced by transversal π/2ℓZ-rotations on a family of quantum Reed-Muller codes. We also briefly discuss a general approach to analyze QFD gates that might lead to a characterization of all stabilizer codes that support any given physical transversal 1- or 2-local diagonal gate.
Finding efficient schemes for non-Clifford logic or magic state preparation is one of the central challenges on the way to fault-tolerant quantum computation. Many of the proposed schemes rely on diagonal non-Clifford logical gates acting on CSS codes in space or decorating CSS-type syndrome-extraction circuits in spacetime. Here we propose and implement efficient algorithms to find all (spacetime) logical gates of a given CSS code (circuit) composed from a prescribed set of ansatz gates. Depending on the choice of ansatz gates, this means finding transversal gates, more general locality-preserving logical circuits, folding gates, or similar. While we focus on qubit diagonal gates in the Clifford hierarchy, we also discuss the generalization to arbitrary diagonal non-hierarchy gates, certain non-diagonal gates, as well as prime and composite-dimensional qudits. Our method works by rephrasing code-space preserving gates as the kernel of the ``pullback'' of the
X check matrix onto phase functions, which maps between finite abelian 2-groups. We implement a fast ``filtration'' method to find this kernel. The runtime for finding fault-tolerant logical gates in a qLDPC code with
O(n) qubits or a circuit with
O(n) gates in a naive dense implementation is
O(n3), with potential for improvement making use of sparsity.
Universal quantum computation requires the implementation of a logical non-Clifford gate. In this paper, we characterize all stabilizer codes whose code subspaces are preserved under physical T and T†gates. For example, this could enable magic state distillation with non-CSS codes and, thus, provide better parameters than CSS-based protocols. However, among non-degenerate stabilizer codes that support transversal T, we prove that CSS codes are optimal. We also show that triorthogonal codes are, essentially, the only family of CSS codes that realize logical transversal T via physical transversal T. Using our algebraic approach, we reveal new purely-classical coding problems that are intimately related to the realization of logical operations via transversal T. Decreasing monomial codes are also used to construct a code that realizes logical CCZ. Finally, we use Ax's theorem to characterize the logical operation realized on a family of quantum Reed-Muller codes. This result is generalized to finer angle Z-rotations in https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.09333.
Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) codes, constructed from nested classical codes
C2⊆C1, are typically optimized for good code parameters. However, practical quantum computing equally demands fault-tolerant logical gates. In this work, we characterize nested pairs
(C1,C2) whose resulting CSS codes realize a target logical diagonal gate via transversal physical
Z-rotations. In doing so, we recover a result of Camps-Moreno et al. that CSS codes can realize only logical single-qubit
Z-rotations and multi-qubit controlled
Z-rotations via transversal physical
Z-rotations. Building on our characterization, we develop the ''appending construction'', that takes as input an
[[n′,k′]] CSS code
Q′ and a target logical
Z-rotation (single-qubit or multi-controlled)
UL, and extends
Q′ by systematically appending
n′′ physical qubits to obtain an
[[n,k]] CSS code
Q with
n=n′+n′′ and
k=k′. The target logical gate
UL is realized in
Q by applying a well-chosen physical transversal
Z-rotation to the
n′′ appended physical qubits. Moreover, any logical gate realized via transversal physical
Z-rotations in the input code
Q′ remains transversally realizable in the extended code
Q. The CSS code
Q may incur a loss in minimum distance, but the loss can be controlled through the parameter choices made in the construction. By repeatedly applying the appending construction, we can extend any CSS code
Q′ to obtain a CSS code
Q that supports fault-tolerant implementations of multiple desired logical
Z-rotations. The cost to be paid for this is the increased physical qubit overhead as the number of target logical gates grows. To illustrate our methodology, we construct CSS code families that transversally realize addressable logical single-qubit and multi-controlled
Z-rotations.
The challenge of quantum computing is to combine error resilience with universal computation. Diagonal gates such as the transversal T gate play an important role in implementing a universal set of quantum operations. This paper introduces a framework that describes the process of preparing a code state, applying a diagonal physical gate, measuring a code syndrome, and applying a Pauli correction that may depend on the measured syndrome (the average logical channel induced by an arbitrary diagonal gate). It focuses on CSS codes, and describes the interaction of code states and physical gates in terms of generator coefficients determined by the induced logical operator. The interaction of code states and diagonal gates depends very strongly on the signs of Z -stabilizers in the CSS code, and the proposed generator coefficient framework explicitly includes this degree of freedom. The paper derives necessary and sufficient conditions for an arbitrary diagonal gate to preserve the code space of a stabilizer code, and provides an explicit expression of the induced logical operator. When the diagonal gate is a quadratic form diagonal gate (introduced by Rengaswamy et al.), the conditions can be expressed in terms of divisibility of weights in the two classical codes that determine the CSS code. These codes find application in magic state distillation and elsewhere. When all the signs are positive, the paper characterizes all possible CSS codes, invariant under transversal Z -rotation through π/2l , that are constructed from classical Reed-Muller codes by deriving the necessary and sufficient constraints on l . The generator coefficient framework extends to arbitrary stabilizer codes but there is nothing to be gained by considering the more general class of non-degenerate stabilizer codes.
Divisible codes are defined by the property that codeword weights share a common divisor greater than one. They are used to design signals for communications and sensing, and this paper explores how they can be used to protect quantum information as it is transformed by logical gates. Given a CSS code
C, we derive conditions that are both necessary and sufficient for a transversal diagonal physical operator
UZ to preserve
C and induce
UL. The group of
Z-stabilizers in a CSS code
C is determined by the dual of a classical
[n,k1] binary code
C1, and the group of
X-stabilizers is determined by a classical
[n,k2] binary code
C2 that is contained in
C1. The requirement that a diagonal physical operator
UZ fixes a CSS code
C leads to constraints on the congruence of weights in cosets of
C2. These constraints are a perfect fit to divisible codes, and represent an opportunity to take advantage of the extensive literature on classical codes with two or three weights. We construct new families of CSS codes using cosets of the first order Reed Muller code defined by quadratic forms. We provide a simple alternative to the standard method of deriving the coset weight distributions (based on Dickson normal form) that may be of independent interest. Finally, we develop an approach to circumventing the Eastin-Knill Theorem which states that no QECC can implement a universal set of logical gates through transversal gates alone. The essential idea is to design stabilizer codes in layers, with
N1 inner qubits and
N2 outer qubits, and to assemble a universal set of fault tolerant gates on the inner qubits.