Gauge Theories and Stabilizer Codes: From Abelian to non-Abelian models

Yuri D. Lensky, Kostyantyn Kechedzhi, I. L. Aleǐner +1 more

Stabilizer codes allow for non-local encoding and processing of quantum information. Deformations of stabilizer surface codes introduce new and non-trivial geometry, in particular leading to emergence of long sought after objects known as projective Ising non-Abelian anyons. Braiding of such anyons is a key ingredient of topological quantum computation. We suggest a simple and systematic approach to construct effective unitary protocols for braiding, manipulation and readout of non-Abelian anyons and preparation of their entangled states. We generalize the surface code to a more generic graph with vertices of degree 2, 3 and 4. Our approach is based on the mapping of the stabilizer code defined on such a graph onto a model of Majorana fermions charged with respect to two emergent gauge fields. One gauge field is akin to the physical magnetic field. The other one is responsible for emergence of the non-Abelian anyonic statistics and has a purely geometric origin. This field arises from assigning certain rules of orientation on the graph known as the Kasteleyn orientation in the statistical theory of dimer coverings. Each 3-degree vertex on the graph carries the flux of this “Kasteleyn” field and hosts a non-Abelian anyon. In our approach all the experimentally relevant operators are unambiguously fixed by locality, unitarity and gauge invariance. We illustrate the power of our method by making specific prescriptions for experiments verifying the non-Abelian statistics.

Albert T. Schmitz

Ryohei Kobayashi, Guanyu Zhu, Po-Shen Hsin

A fundamental problem in fault-tolerant quantum computation is the tradeoff between universality and dimensionality, exemplified by the the Bravyi-König bound for $n$-dimensional topological stabilizer codes. In this work, we extend topological Pauli stabilizer codes to a broad class of $n$-dimensional Clifford hierarchy stabilizer codes. These codes correspond to the $(n+1)$D Dijkgraaf-Witten gauge theories with non-Abelian topological order. We construct transversal non-Clifford gates through automorphism symmetries represented by cup products. In 2D, we obtain the first transversal non-Clifford logical gates including T and CS for Clifford stabilizer codes, using the automorphism of the twisted $\mathbb{Z}_2^3$ gauge theory (equivalent to $\mathbb{D}_4$ topological order). We also combine it with the just-in-time decoder to fault-tolerantly prepare the logical T magic state in $O(d)$ rounds via code switching. In 3D, we construct a transversal logical $\sqrt{\text{T}}$ gate in a non-Clifford stabilizer code at the third level of the Clifford hierarchy, located on a tetrahedron corresponding to a twisted $\mathbb{Z}_2^4$ gauge theory. Our constructions surpass the Bravyi-König bound by achieving the logical gates in the $(n+1)$-th level of Clifford hierarchy in $n$ spatial dimension.

Indrakshi Raychowdhury

Maine Christos, Chiu Fan Bowen Lo, Vedika Khemani +1 more

In this work, we introduce constructions for non-Abelian qLDPC codes obtained by gauging transversal Clifford gates using measurement and feedback. In particular, we identify two qualitatively different approaches to gauging qLDPC codes to obtain their non-Abelian counterparts. The first approach applies to codes that exhibit a generalized form of Poincaré duality and leads to a qLDPC non-Abelian Clifford stabilizer code, whose stabilizers are reminiscent of the action of a Type-III twisted quantum double. Our second approach applies to general qLDPC codes, and uses a graph of ancilla qubits which may be tailored to properties of the input codes to gauge a single transversal gate. For both constructions, the resulting gauged codes are shown to have properties analogous to 2D non-Abelian topological order -- e.g. the analog of a single anyon on a torus. We conclude by demonstrating that our gauging procedures enable magic state preparation via the measurement of logical Clifford gates. Consequently, our gauging constructions offer a protocol for performing non-Clifford operations on any qLDPC code.

Po-Shen Hsin, Ryohei Kobayashi, Guanyu Zhu

We construct a family of infinitely many candidate non-Abelian self-correcting topological quantum memories in D ≥ 5 + 1 spacetime dimensions without particle excitations using local commuting non-Pauli stabilizer lattice models and field theories of Z 2 3 higher-form gauge fields with nontrivial topological action. We call such non-Pauli stabilizer models magic stabilizer codes. The family of topological orders have Abelian electric excitations and non-Abelian magnetic excitations that obey Ising-like fusion rules and non-Abelian braiding, including Borromean ring type braiding which is a signature of non-Abelian topological order, generalizing the dihedral group D 8 gauge theory in ( 2 + 1 ) D . The simplest example includes a non-Abelian self-correcting memory in ( 5 + 1 ) D with Abelian loop excitations and non-Abelian membrane excitations. We prove the self-correction property and the thermal stability and devise a probabilistic local cellular-automaton decoder. We also construct fault-tolerant non-Clifford CCZ logical gate using constant-depth circuits from higher-cup products in the 5D non-Abelian code. The use of higher-cup products and non-Pauli stabilizers allows us to get an O ( n 2 / 5 ) distance overcoming the O ( n 1 / 3 ) distance barrier in conventional topological stabilizer codes, including the 3D color code and the 6D self-correcting color code.