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Abelian topological code

Description

Code whose codewords realize topological order associated with an Abelian anyon theory. In 2D, this is equivalent to a unitary braided fusion category which is also an Abelian group under fusion [1]. Unless otherwise noted, the phases discussed are bosonic.

2D Abelian topological codes

A theory is defined by an Abelian group \(A\) of anyon types whose multiplication relations define the fusion rules, and a set of exchange statistics \(\theta(a)\in U(1)\) obtained by exchanging two anyons of type \(a\in A\). The exchange statistics in turn define braiding relations, \begin{align} B(a,b) = \frac{\theta(ab)}{\theta(a)\theta(b)}~, \tag*{(1)}\end{align} between all anyon pairs \(a,b\).

All 2D Abelian bosonic topological orders can be understood within the subsystem stabilizer formalism [2]. As such, many of the operations one can perform on such codes have both a stabilizer and a topological-phase interpretation. Stabilizer generators of 2D topological codes acting on 1D loops of qubits can be interpreted as one-form symmetries of the underlying phase realized by the code. Identification of an anyon \(a\) with the vacuum is equivalent to adding string excitation operators corresponding to \(a\) to the stabilizer group and taking the center to get another stabilizer group. Code states of this new stabilizer code correspond to a condensed phase of the parent topological phase. The remaining unidentified parent-phase anyons behave differently with respect to the new condensed-phase state. Some become confined while the remaining ones pick up new braiding relations.

Gapped anyon theories admit a subgroup of bosons with trivial mutual statistics whose order squares to that of \(G\); see Ref. [3]. In terms of their category theoretic structure, gapped anyon theories admit a Lagrangian subgroup [4,5]. It is conjectured that the logical dimension of an Abelian topological code on a torus is always a square [4].

Rate

\(\mathbb{Z}_N\) topological order cannot exist on any fractal geometry that is embeddable in two Euclidean dimensions [6].

Encoding

Any local quantum circuit connecting ground states of topological orders with non-isomorphic Abelian groups must have depth that is at least linear in the diameter of the system [7].

Gates

Clifford gates can be implemented by braiding defects; for qubit-based stabilizer codes realizing Abelian topological phases, see Refs. [8,9]. Most of such designs focus on the surface code [10–15].

Fault Tolerance

Fault-tolerant logical operations can be interpreted as anyon condensation events [16].Modular decoding, designed to overcome the backlog problem, is applicable to fault-tolerant protocols based on topological qubit stabilizer codes [17].

Cousins

  • Walker-Wang model code— Any Abelian anyon theory \(A\) can be realized at one of the surfaces of a 3D Walker-Wang model whose underlying theory is an Abelian TQD containing \(A\) as a subtheory [18,19][2; Appx. H].
  • 3D lattice stabilizer code— Qubit 3D stabilizer codes are conjectured to admit either fracton phases or abelian topological phases that are equivalent to multiple copies of the 3D surface code and/or the 3D fermionic surface code [20].
  • Gauss' law code— Gauge-group elements of a \(D\)-dimensional fermionic \(\mathbb{Z}_2\) gauge theory form a single-error-correcting linear binary code [21; Thm. 1]. There is a general correspondence between stabilizer codes and gauge theory, with the stabilizer group playing the role of the gauge group [22], and with the Gauss' law code being a specific example.
  • Classical topological code— Some topological orders have classical analogues that can be used for error correction.
  • Compactified \(\mathbb{R}\) gauge theory code— The compactified \(\mathbb{R}\) gauge theory code can be obtained from the analog surface code by condensing certain anyons [23]. This results in a pinning of each mode to the space of periodic functions, which make up a physical rotor, and can be thought of as compactification of the 2D \(\mathbb{R}\) gauge theory phase realized by the analog surface code.
  • Analog surface code— The analog surface code realizes a straightforward extension of the modular-qudit surface code to infinite local dimension, \(q\to\infty\) [24]. The code realizes a phase of 2D \(\mathbb{R}\) gauge theory. There are two types of anyons, \(e\) and \(m\), with each type being valued in a continuous domain as opposed to \(\mathbb{Z}_q\) for the qudit surface code.
  • \(U(1)_{2n} \times U(1)_{-2m}\) Chern-Simons GKP code— The \(U(1)_{2n} \times U(1)_{-2m}\) Chern-Simons GKP code realizes \(U(1)_{2n} \times U(1)_{-2m}\) Chern-Simons theory on bosonic modes. The code can be obtained from the analog surface code by condensing certain anyons [23].
  • Tiger surface code— The tiger surface code is conjectured to realize phases of \(U(1)\) gauge theory.
  • Stabilizer code— There is a general correspondence between stabilizer codes and gauge theory, with the stabilizer group playing the role of the gauge group [22].
  • Lattice subsystem code— All 2D Abelian bosonic topological orders can be realized as modular-qudit lattice subsystem codes by starting with an Abelian quantum double model (slightly different from that of Ref. [3]) along with a family of Abelian TQDs that generalize the double semion anyon theory and gauging out certain bosonic anyons [2]. The stabilizer generators of the new subsystem code may no longer be geometrically local. Lattice subsystem stabilizer code Hamiltonians described by an Abelian anyon theory do not always realize the corresponding anyonic topological order in their ground-state subspace and may exhibit a rich phase diagram. Non-Abelian topological orders are purported not to be realizable with Pauli stabilizer codes [25].
  • Dynamical code— Useful measurement sequences of dynamical codes can be extracted from topological quantum field theory [26].
  • Quantum repetition code— The 1D quantum repetition code is an ingredient in product constructions that yield several topological phases [27; Fig. 8].
  • Bivariate bicycle (BB) code— BB codes have been investigated in terms of their anyons and topological order [28].
  • Qubit CSS code— The mapping of qubit CSS codes to chain complexes allows the application of structures from topology to error correction. Chain complexes describing some QLDPC codes [29,30], and, more generally, CSS codes [31] can be 'lifted' into higher-dimensional manifolds admitting some notion of geometric locality. Qubit CSS codes admit several dualities [32,33].
  • Twist-defect color code— Twist-defect color codes realize \(\mathbb{Z}_2 \times \mathbb{Z}_2\) topological order with twist defects.
  • Chen-Hsin invertible-order code— Instances of the code in 4D realize the 3D \(\mathbb{Z}_2\) gauge theory with fermionic charge and either bosonic (FcBl) or fermionic (FcFl) loop excitations at their boundaries [34,35]; see Ref. [36] for a different lattice-model formulation of the FcBl boundary code.
  • Twist-defect surface code— Twist-defect surface codes realize \(\mathbb{Z}_2\) topological order with twist defects.
  • Three-fermion (3F) Walker-Wang model code— When treated as ground states of the code Hamiltonian, 3F Walker-Wang model code states realize a 3D time-reversal SPT order [37]. The anyons at the boundary of the lattice are described by the 3F anyon theory.

Member of code lists

Primary Hierarchy

Quantum Domain
Quantum code
Operator-algebra QECC (OAQECC)
Quantum error-correcting code (QECC)
Block quantum code
Topological codeHamiltonian-based QECC Quantum
Parents
Topological code
Abelian topological code
Children
Majorana box qubit
When treated as ground states of the code Hamiltonian, codewords of a single Kitaev chain realize \(\mathbb{Z}_2\) fermionic topological order.
Layer code
The Layer code realizes 2D layers of \(\mathbb{Z}_2\) gauge theory coupled along defects.
3D color code
3D fermionic surface code
The 3D Kitaev surface code realizes 3D \(\mathbb{Z}_2\) gauge theory with fermionic charge and bosonic loop excitations (FcBl), i.e., with an emergent fermion.
\((1,3)\) 4D toric code
The \((1,3)\) 4D toric code realizes 4D \(\mathbb{Z}_2\) gauge theory with 1D \(Z\)-type and 3D \(X\)-type logical operators.
Loop toric code
The 4D loop toric code realizes 4D \(\mathbb{Z}_2\) gauge theory with only loop excitations [38].
Qudit 3D surface code
The qudit 3D surface code realizes 3D \(\mathbb{Z}_q\) gauge theory with bosonic charge and loop excitations (BcBl).
3D Kitaev honeycomb code
One of the phases realized by the 3D Kitaev honeycomb Hamiltonian is that of the 3D fermionic surface code [39].
Three-fermion (3F) subsystem code
The 3F code is a 2D subsystem code characterized by 3F topological order [2], which is chiral and modular.
Abelian TQD stabilizer codeCDSC Kitaev surface
Abelian TQDs realize all modular gapped Abelian topological orders [3]. Conversely, every Abelian anyon theory is a subtheory of some TQD [2; Sec. 6.2]. Any Abelian anyon theory \(A\) can be realized at one of the surfaces of a 3D Walker-Wang model whose underlying theory is an Abelian TQD containing \(A\) as a subtheory [18,19][2; Appx. H].
\(\mathbb{Z}_q^{(1)}\) subsystem code
The \(\mathbb{Z}_q^{(1)}\) subsystem code is characterized by the \(\mathbb{Z}_q^{(1)}\) anyon theory [40]. The anyon theory has a single generator \(a \in \mathbb Z_N\) with \(\theta(a) =e^{\frac{2\pi i}{N}a^2}\). It is modular for odd prime \(q\) and non-modular otherwise.
Chiral semion subsystem code
The semion code is a subsystem code characterized by the chiral semion topological phase.
\(\mathbb{Z}_3\times\mathbb{Z}_9\)-fusion subsystem code
The \(\mathbb{Z}_q^{(1)}\) subsystem code is characterized by a non-modular anyon theory with \(\mathbb{Z}_3\times\mathbb{Z}_9\) fusion rules.

References

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Zoo Code ID: topological_abelian

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“Abelian topological code”, The Error Correction Zoo (V. V. Albert & P. Faist, eds.), 2022. https://errorcorrectionzoo.org/c/topological_abelian
BibTeX:
@incollection{eczoo_topological_abelian, title={Abelian topological code}, booktitle={The Error Correction Zoo}, year={2022}, editor={Albert, Victor V. and Faist, Philippe}, url={https://errorcorrectionzoo.org/c/topological_abelian} }
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“Abelian topological code”, The Error Correction Zoo (V. V. Albert & P. Faist, eds.), 2022. https://errorcorrectionzoo.org/c/topological_abelian

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