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arXiv:2607.21697

Non-Clifford quantum cellular automata from invertible topological quantum field theories

Meng Sun, Zongyuan Wang, Bowen Yang, Nathanan Tantivasadakarn, Yu-An Chen

quant-phcond-mat.str-elhep-thmath-phmath.QASubmitted Jul 23, 2026• Announced Jul 27, 2026• 0 citations• Revised Oct 30, 2026 (v2)
v1 · Jul 23, 2026v2 · Oct 30, 2026
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Abstract

Quantum cellular automata (QCAs) describe locality-preserving quantum dynamics and link quantum information, many-body physics, and topological quantum field theory (TQFT). Constructing a QCA from a TQFT, however, remains challenging: although a topological action yields a Hamiltonian with commuting terms that realizes the desired ground state, it does not by itself specify an automorphism of the full operator algebra. We develop a unified algebraic construction that extends such Hamiltonians to complete separator-flipper algebras on the full tensor-product Hilbert space, thereby defining the corresponding QCAs microscopically. In 3 spatial dimensions, our framework unifies all previously known QCA constructions associated with the $\mathbb{Z}_8\times\mathbb{Z}_2$ subgroup of the Witt group, including the $U(1)_2$ and $U(1)_4$ QCAs. The same algebraic structure yields new infinite families of generalized $U(1)_2$ and $U(1)_4$ non-Clifford QCAs in spatial dimensions $d=4k-1$. We also reformulate the 4-dimensional $w_2w_3$ QCA and use it to construct QCAs from TQFTs associated with arbitrary products of Stiefel--Whitney classes. For example, we explicitly construct two infinite families: $w_2^nw_3^m$ QCAs in dimension $d=2n+3m-1$ and $w_2w_{4k-1}$ QCAs in dimension $d=4k$. For the 5-dimensional $w_3^2$ and $w_2^3$ QCAs, our construction gives finite-depth quantum circuits, consistent with the cobordism classification. More generally, we show that our construction yields a finite-depth quantum circuit whenever the corresponding Stiefel-Whitney number vanishes on every closed oriented manifold. Overall, these results convert invertible TQFTs into microscopic QCAs, provide higher-dimensional constructions beyond the Clifford setting, and open a systematic route to characterizing their stable structures and boundary anomalies.

Comments
57+23 pages; expanded discussion in appendix; typo fixes and clarity improvement throughout

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We study locality preserving automorphisms of operator algebras on D-dimensional uniform lattices of prime p-dimensional qudits quantum cellular automata (QCAs), specializing in those that are translation invariant (TI), and map every prime p-dimensional Pauli matrix to a tensor product of Pauli matrices (Clifford). We associate antihermitian forms of the unit determinant over Laurent polynomial rings to TI Clifford QCA with lattice boundaries and prove that the form determines the QCA up to Clifford circuits and shifts (trivial). It follows that every 2D TI Clifford QCA is trivial since the antihermitian form in this case is always trivial. Furthermore, we prove that for any D, the fourth power of any TI Clifford QCA is trivial. We present explicit examples of nontrivial TI Clifford QCA for D = 3 and any odd prime p and show that the Witt group of the finite field Fp is a subgroup of the group C(D=3,p) of all TI Clifford QCA modulo trivial ones. That is, C(D=3,p≡1mod4)⊇Z2×Z2 and C(D=3,p≡3mod4)⊇Z4. The examples are found by disentangling the ground state of a commuting Pauli Hamiltonian, which is constructed by coupling layers of prime dimensional toric codes such that an exposed surface has an anomalous topological order that is not realizable by commuting Pauli Hamiltonians strictly in two dimensions. In an appendix independent of the main body of this paper, we revisit a recent theorem of Freedman and Hastings that any two-dimensional QCA, which is not necessarily Clifford or translation invariant, is a constant depth quantum circuit followed by a shift. We give a more direct proof of the theorem without using any ancillas.
Chiral topological order is incompatible with strictly two-dimensional local commuting-projector Hamiltonians on finite-dimensional tensor-product Hilbert spaces. Invertible subalgebras (ISAs) provide an alternative framework. We construct an ISA supporting chiral semions, together with its anti-semion commutant, on a square lattice with one qubit per edge. We give explicit non-Pauli generators for both algebras and prove that together they generate all local operators on the Hilbert space. Starting from the Z4\mathbb{Z}_4Z4​ toric code, we condense the boson e2m2e^2m^2e2m2 and identify the semion and anti-semion algebras. We then decompose each Z4\mathbb{Z}_4Z4​ qudit into two qubits and use a finite-depth circuit to disentangle one qubit per edge fixed by the condensation constraints. Pumping the semion ISA along the zzz direction defines an explicit three-dimensional non-Clifford quantum cellular automaton (QCA). We show that pumping eight times is equivalent to a translation followed by a finite-depth quantum circuit with ancillary qubits. We also give an explicit finite-depth circuit relating this construction to the semion QCA previously obtained from topological quantum field theory. A similar condensation construction yields a U(1)4U(1)_4U(1)4​ ISA on a square lattice. Together with the semion and earlier odd-prime ISAs, finite stacking realizes every pointed Witt class of bosonic Abelian anyon theories. Finally, we extend both constructions to all spatial dimensions d=4k−2d=4k{-}2d=4k−2, with one qubit or Z4\mathbb{Z}_4Z4​ qudit on each (2k−1)(2k{-}1)(2k−1)-cell for the semion or U(1)4U(1)_4U(1)4​ ISA, respectively.
Quantum cellular automata (QCAs) are automorphisms of tensor product algebras that preserve locality, with local quantum circuits as a simple example. We study approximate QCAs, where the locality condition is only satisfied up to a small error, as occurs for local quantum dynamics on the lattice. A priori, approximate QCAs could exhibit genuinely new behavior, failing to be well-approximated by any exact QCA. We show this does not occur in one dimension: every approximate QCA on a finite circle can be rounded to a strict QCA with approximately the same action on local operators, so these systems are classified by the same index as in the exact case. Previous work considered the case of the infinite line, by using global methods not amenable to finite systems. Our new approach proceeds locally and now applies to finite systems, including circles or homomorphisms from sub-intervals. We extract exact local boundary algebras from the approximate QCA restricted to local patches, then glue these to form a strict QCA. The key technical ingredient is a robust notion of the intersection of two subalgebras: when the projections onto two subalgebras approximately commute, we construct an exact subalgebra that serves as a stable proxy for their intersection. This construction uses a recent theorem of Kitaev on the rigidity of approximate C∗C^*C∗-algebras.