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arXiv:2606.19873

Random Local Stabilizer Codes in Three Dimensions without String or Self-Similar Fractal Logical Operators

Han Yan

quant-phcond-mat.str-elSubmitted Jun 18, 2026• Announced Jun 19, 2026• 0 citations• Revised Jun 19, 2026 (v2)
v1 · Jun 18, 2026v2 · Jun 19, 2026
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Abstract

Quantum error-correcting codes (QECs) are essential components of quantum computation and have deep connections to quantum phases of matter. A key obstruction to passive self-correcting QECs is the presence of string logical operators, which can generate logical errors through constant-energy-barrier processes. Haah's Codes (fracton codes) showed that three-dimensional stabilizer codes can forbid such string logical operators, but their translation-invariant structure supports self-similar fractal logical operators with a logarithmic energy barrier. We introduce the qutrit random cubic codes, a family of local qutrit Calderbank-Shor-Steane stabilizer Hamiltonians with similar cube-check structure as Haah's Code 1 but built from spatially varying stabilizers. We prove that these models retain the no-string property and numerically observe that they have properties distinct from translation-invariant fracton codes: the smallest ground-state degeneracy exponent is $k=2$ for odd $L$ and $k=4$ for even $L$; noncontractible plane-logical operators span the entire logical space; and charge-push diagnostics show that the self-similar fractal operators are absent. These results demonstrate that constrained randomness can fundamentally change the nature of stabilizer codes and improve their self-correction properties. They further point to broader families of quantum error-correcting codes and quantum phases beyond canonical topological and fracton orders.

Comments
20 pages, 11 figures. Repository for data: https://github.com/hanyanphysics/QTRCC

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The authors generalize here three-dimensional \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}2{}_{2}2​ stabilizer models---the X-cube, toric code, and Haah's code---to their \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}N{}_{N}N​ counterparts, revealing size-dependent ground-state degeneracy and novel excitations. They demonstrate that the generalized X-cube hosts quasi-fractons that remain immobile under local operations but become mobile via global ones. In the toric code, both closed-loop and open-string excitations emerge, while Haah's code features new fracton tripole and monopole excitations. These findings uncover unconventional topological orders and broaden the understanding of fracton phases beyond the conventional \ensuremath{\mathbb{Z}}2{}_{2}2​ framework.
ZN\mathbb{Z}_NZN​ generalizations of three-dimensional stabilizer codes
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Stabilizer codes are often constructed within the Calderbank--Shor--Steane (CSS) framework, where two mutually orthogonal binary classical codes define XXX and ZZZ-type stabilizer generators. While this structure is algebraically convenient, additional non-CSS constraints may help suppress low-weight logical operators and improve decoding performance in the finite-length regime. We thus introduce quantum XYZ stabilizer codes, whose parity-check matrix (PCM) is built from three pairwise orthogonal binary PCMs associated with XXX-, YYY-, and ZZZ-type stabilizer generators. A nontrivial point is that an XYZ code instance is not automatically genuinely non-CSS: the same stabilizer group may admit a CSS generating set. We characterize this collapse, obtaining algebraic and rank conditions for deciding when the YYY-type checks are redundant and when they define genuinely non-CSS stabilizer constraints. We also derive upper and lower bounds on the quantum minimum distance, including bounds for mixed Pauli logical operators. The novel framework includes a known non-CSS topological code, namely the XYZ2^22 hexagonal code, and yields also sparse finite-length quantum low-density parity-check (qLDPC) constructions from intersecting-subset and quasi-dyadic code families. Simulations under depolarizing code-capacity noise and quaternary belief propagation decoding show that the proposed XYZ qLDPC instances can outperform representative CSS qLDPC instances with similar finite-length parameters.