Some Results on Qudit Quantum Error-Correction
Lane G. Gunderman
Abstract
Quantum computing’s seemingly perpetual promise of nearness still has a few hurdles \nto surmount before it can become a reality. Among these hurdles is that of protection of \ninformation from random errors. A potential solution for this challenge is stabilizer codes, \nwhich are the analog of classical linear error-correcting codes, however, with an additional \naxis of error possibility. By and large, quantum computing is discussed in the standard \nqubit, or two-level, language, however, it is worth considering the case of qudits, or more \nthan two-level systems. Often times results follow simply from some form of algebraic \nextension: typically group theory or linear algebra. In this work we consider some features \nthat are not immediately apparent from that approach, more often appealing to physical \nintuition to guide our mathematical ideas, then proving these ideas using the language of \nqudit operators. \n \nHere we consider two particular previously unexplored ideas. The first idea is that of \nembedding and inscribing of codes into spaces of different sizes than the stabilizer code \nwas originally designed for. Here, we show that all codes can be embedded, and that for \ninfinitely many primes we can in fact guarantee that the distance is at least preserved–a \nsomewhat surprising result. The second idea is, in a way an application of those presented \nin the first idea, that of turning many stabilizer codes into hybrid codes by taking advantage \nof relabelling of syndromes and the rapid increase in syndrome space upon using codes in \nlarge spaces. Both of these are somewhat useful in their current forms, however, with some \nadditional mathematical work could be turned into potentially very powerful tools for the \nprotection of quantum information. We finish off by, and along the way, mentioning various \nfuture directions to carry work on this.