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ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing (STOC)

Homological product codes

Sergey B. Bravyi, Matthew B. Hastings

Published May 31, 2014• 81 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Quantum codes with low-weight stabilizers known as LDPC codes have been actively studied recently due to their potential applications in fault-tolerant quantum computing. However, all families of quantum LDPC codes known to this date suffer from a poor distance scaling limited by the square-root of the code length. This is in a sharp contrast with the classical case where good families of LDPC codes are known that combine constant encoding rate and linear distance. Here we propose the first family of good quantum codes with low-weight stabilizers. The new codes have a constant encoding rate, linear distance, and stabilizers acting on at most O(√n) qubits, where n is the code length. For comparison, all previously known families of good quantum codes have stabilizers of linear weight. Our proof combines two techniques: randomized constructions of good quantum codes and the homological product operation from algebraic topology. We conjecture that similar methods can produce good stabilizer codes with stabilizer weight O(nα) for any α > 0.

DOI
10.1145/2591796.2591870

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Quantum codes with low-weight stabilizers known as LDPC codes have been actively studied recently due to their potential applications in fault-tolerant quantum computing. However, all families of quantum LDPC codes known to this date suffer from a poor distance scaling limited by the square-root of the code length. This is in a sharp contrast with the classical case where good families of LDPC codes are known that combine constant encoding rate and linear distance. Here we propose the first family of good quantum codes with low-weight stabilizers. The new codes have a constant encoding rate, linear distance, and stabilizers acting on at most O(√n) qubits, where n is the code length. For comparison, all previously known families of good quantum codes have stabilizers of linear weight. Our proof combines two techniques: randomized constructions of good quantum codes and the homological product operation from algebraic topology. We conjecture that similar methods can produce good stabilizer codes with stabilizer weight O(nα) for any α > 0.
Quantum codes with low-weight stabilizers known as LDPC codes have been actively studied recently due to their simple syndrome readout circuits and potential applications in fault-tolerant quantum computing. However, all families of quantum LDPC codes known to this date suffer from a poor distance scaling limited by the square-root of the code length. This is in a sharp contrast with the classical case where good families of LDPC codes are known that combine constant encoding rate and linear distance. Here we propose the first family of good quantum codes with low-weight stabilizers. The new codes have a constant encoding rate, linear distance, and stabilizers acting on at most n\sqrt{n}n​ qubits, where nnn is the code length. For comparison, all previously known families of good quantum codes have stabilizers of linear weight. Our proof combines two techniques: randomized constructions of good quantum codes and the homological product operation from algebraic topology. We conjecture that similar methods can produce good stabilizer codes with stabilizer weight nan^ana for any a>0a>0a>0. Finally, we apply the homological product to construct new small codes with low-weight stabilizers.
It is a major challenge in quantum fault-tolerance to obtain low-overhead protocols for performing non-Clifford gates. In this vein, we construct quantum codes with low-weight stabilizers that support transversal (i.e. low-depth) implementations of the non-Clifford Cr−1ZC^{r-1}ZCr−1Z gate, for every constant r≥3r\geq 3r≥3. In particular, we obtain length-nnn quantum LDPC codes (with constant-weight stabilizers) of polynomial distance d≥n(1−ε)/rd\geq n^{(1-ε)/r}d≥n(1−ε)/r supporting transversal Cr−1ZC^{r-1}ZCr−1Z gates on a close-to-linear number k≥n1−εk\geq n^{1-ε}k≥n1−ε of disjoint tuples of logical qubits, for arbitrarily small ε>0ε>0ε>0. Our construction is the first with constant-weight stabilizers that obtains dk≫ndk\gg ndk≫n, and as a consequence achieves arbitrarily small magic state overhead exponent γ=log⁡(n/k)/log⁡(d)>0γ=\log(n/k)/\log(d)>0γ=log(n/k)/log(d)>0. Comparable prior constructions instead required at least polylogarithmic stabilizer weight. We also show how to obtain linearly many k=Ω(n)k=Ω(n)k=Ω(n) logical Cr−1ZC^{r-1}ZCr−1Z gates, though with stabilizer weight and physical circuit depth nεn^εnε. We show that our transversal gates also support addressing (i.e. targeting) of specific logical qubits. To obtain our codes, we develop a general transformation based on cup products that maps classical codes satisfying a multiplication property to quantum codes with transversal Cr−1ZC^{r-1}ZCr−1Z. We apply this transformation to a new family of classical Tanner codes that we construct from punctured tensor products of algebraic codes.
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We establish a systematic mathematical framework for constructing and computing (co)homological invariants that induce logical gates on quantum low-density parity-check (qLDPC) codes. By synthesizing tools from graph theory, algebraic topology, and number theory, we study constructions ranging from hypergraph product (HGP) codes to sheaf codes. Using commutative algebra, we generalize the notion of canonical logical representatives from HGP codes to the sheaf code setting, resolving a longstanding challenge in explicitly characterizing sheaf codewords. Building on this foundation, we present the first comprehensive computation of cup products within the intricate framework of sheaf codes. Given Artin's primitive root conjecture which holds under the generalized Riemann hypothesis, {we establish a nearly linear family of independent cup product cochains on almost-good qLDPC codes. Under a separate nonvanishing pairing condition, they are expected to yield parallel logical multi-controlled-Z gates. Moreover, by interpreting sheaf codes as covering spaces of HGP codes, we construct interlaced families through odd-degree lifts that preserve compatible invariant pairings, allowing nontrivial, constant-depth logical gates throughout an infinite family to be certified on a constant-size HGP seed. Treating local code constructions and expansion bounds as external inputs, our framework identifies the compatibility conditions for combining large dimension and distance, local testability, and constant-depth non-Clifford gates, thereby provides a mathematical foundation for separate constructions that realize these properties simultaneously.
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