Theory Of Quantum Error Correction Research Articles

Quantum Error Correction: Noise-Adapted Techniques and Applications

The quantum computing devices of today have tens to hundreds of qubits that are highly susceptible to noise due to unwanted interactions with their environment. The theory of quantum error correction provides a scheme by which the effects of such noise on quantum states can be mitigated, paving the way for realising robust, scalable quantum computers. In this article we survey the current landscape of quantum error correcting (QEC) codes, focusing on recent theoretical advances in the domain of noise-adapted QEC, and highlighting some key open questions. We also discuss the interesting connections that have emerged between such adaptive QEC techniques and fundamental physics, especially in the areas of many-body physics and cosmology. We conclude with a brief review of the theory of quantum fault tolerance which gives a quantitative estimate of the physical noise threshold below which error-resilient quantum computation is possible.

Nonlinear quantum error correction

We introduce a theory of quantum error correction (QEC) for a subclass of states within a larger Hilbert space. In the standard theory of QEC, the set of all encoded states is formed by an arbitrary linear combination of the codewords. However, this can be more general than required for a given quantum protocol which may only traverse a subclass of states within the Hilbert space. Here we propose the concept of nonlinear QEC (NLQEC), where the encoded states are not necessarily a linear combination of codewords. We introduce a sufficiency criterion for NLQEC with respect to the subclass of states. The new criterion gives a more relaxed condition for the formation of a QEC code, such that under the assumption that the states are within the subclass of states, the errors are correctable. This allows us, for instance, to effectively circumvent the no-go theorems regarding optical QEC for Gaussian states and channels, for which we present explicit examples.

Asymmetric Entanglement-Assisted Quantum Error-Correcting Codes and BCH Codes

The concept of asymmetric entanglement-assisted quantum error-correcting code (asymmetric EAQECC) is introduced in this article. Codes of this type take advantage of the asymmetry in quantum errors since phase-shift errors are more probable than qudit-flip errors. Moreover, they use pre-shared entanglement between encoder and decoder to simplify the theory of quantum error correction and increase the communication capacity. Thus, asymmetric EAQECCs can be constructed from any pair of classical linear codes over an arbitrary field. Their parameters are described and a Gilbert-Varshamov bound is presented. Explicit parameters of asymmetric EAQECCs from BCH codes are computed and examples exceeding the introduced Gilbert-Varshamov bound are shown.

Bulk locality and quantum error correction in AdS/CFT

We point out a connection between the emergence of bulk locality in AdS/CFT and the theory of quantum error correction. Bulk notions such as Bogoliubov transformations, location in the radial direction, and the holographic entropy bound all have natural CFT interpretations in the language of quantum error correction. We also show that the question of whether bulk operator reconstruction works only in the causal wedge or all the way to the extremal surface is related to the question of whether or not the quantum error correcting code realized by AdS/CFT is also a "quantum secret sharing scheme", and suggest a tensor network calculation that may settle the issue. Interestingly, the version of quantum error correction which is best suited to our analysis is the somewhat nonstandard "operator algebra quantum error correction" of Beny, Kempf, and Kribs. Our proposal gives a precise formulation of the idea of "subregion-subregion" duality in AdS/CFT, and clarifies the limits of its validity.

High-Rate Quantum Low-Density Parity-Check Codes Assisted by Reliable Qubits

Quantum error correction is an important building block for reliable quantum information processing. A challenging hurdle in the theory of quantum error correction is that it is significantly more difficult to design error-correcting codes with desirable properties for quantum information processing than for traditional digital communications and computation. A typical obstacle to constructing a variety of strong quantum error-correcting codes is the complicated restrictions imposed on the structure of a code. Recently, promising solutions to this problem have been proposed in quantum information science, where in principle any binary linear code can be turned into a quantum error-correcting code by assuming a small number of reliable quantum bits. This paper studies how best to take advantage of these latest ideas to construct desirable quantum error-correcting codes of very high information rate. Our methods exploit structured high-rate low-density parity-check codes available in the classical domain and provide quantum analogues that inherit their characteristic low decoding complexity and high error correction performance even at moderate code lengths. Our approach to designing high-rate quantum error-correcting codes also allows for making direct use of other major syndrome decoding methods for linear codes, making it possible to deal with a situation where promising quantum analogues of low-density parity-check codes are difficult to find.

Key ideas in quantum error correction

In this introductory article on the subject of quantum error correction and fault-tolerant quantum computation, we review three important ingredients that enter known constructions for fault-tolerant quantum computation, namely quantum codes, error discretization and transversal quantum gates. Taken together, they provide a ground on which the theory of quantum error correction can be developed and fault-tolerant quantum information protocols can be built.

NP-hardness of decoding quantum error-correction codes

Though the theory of quantum error correction is intimately related to the classical coding theory, in particular, one can construct quantum error correction codes (QECCs) from classical codes with the dual containing property, this does not necessarily imply that the computational complexity of decoding QECCs is the same as their classical counterparts. Instead, decoding QECCs can be very much different from decoding classical codes due to the degeneracy property. Intuitively, one expect degeneracy would simplify the decoding since two different errors might not and need not be distinguished in order to correct them. However, we show that general quantum decoding problem is NP-hard regardless of the quantum codes being degenerate or non-degenerate. This finding implies that no considerably fast decoding algorithm exists for the general quantum decoding problems, and suggests the existence of a quantum cryptosystem based on the hardness of decoding QECCs.

Grassmannian Packings From Operator Reed–Muller Codes

This paper introduces multidimensional generalizations of binary Reed-Muller codes where the codewords are projection operators, and the corresponding subspaces are widely separated with respect to the chordal distance on Grassmannian space. Parameters of these Grassmannian packings are derived and a low complexity decoding algorithm is developed by modifying standard decoding algorithms for binary Reed-Muller codes. The subspaces are associated with projection operators determined by Pauli matrices appearing in the theory of quantum error correction and this connection with quantum stabilizer codes may be of independent interest. The Grassmannian packings constructed here find application in noncoherent wireless communication with multiple antennas, where separation with respect to the chordal distance on Grassmannian space guarantees closeness to the channel capacity. It is shown that the capacity of the noncoherent multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) channel at both low and moderate signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (under the constraint that only isotropically distributed unitary matrices are used for information transmission) is closely approximated by these packings.

Maps for general open quantum systems and a theory of linear quantum error correction

We show that quantum subdynamics of an open quantum system can always be described by a linear, Hermitian map irrespective of the form of the initial total system state. Since the theory of quantum error correction was developed based on the assumption of completely positive (CP) maps, we present a generalized theory of linear quantum error correction, which applies to any linear map describing the open system evolution. In the physically relevant setting of Hermitian maps, we show that the CP-map-based version of quantum error correction theory applies without modifications. However, we show that a more general scenario is also possible, where the recovery map is Hermitian but not CP. Since non-CP maps have nonpositive matrices in their range, we provide a geometric characterization of the positivity domain of general linear maps. In particular, we show that this domain is convex and that this implies a simple algorithm for finding its boundary.

A New Error Correction Intuitive Approach in Quantum Communications Protocols

Quantum Error Correction will be necessary for preserving coherent states against noise and other unwanted interactions in quantum computation and communication. We develop a general theory of quantum error correction based on encoding states into larger Hilbert spaces subject to known interactions. We obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for the perfect recovery of an encoded state after its degradation by an interaction. The conditions depend only on the behavior of the logical states. We use them to give a recovery operator independent definition of error-correcting codes. We relate this definition to four others: The existence of a left inverse of the interaction, an explicit representation of the error syndrome using tensor products, perfect recovery of the completely entangled state and an information theoretic identity. Two notions of fidelity and error for imperfect recovery are introduced, one for pure and the other for entangled states. The latter is more appropriate when using codes in a quantum memory or in applications of quantum teleportation to communication. We show that the error for entangled states is bounded linearly by the error for pure states. A formal definition of independent interactions for qubits is given. This leads to lower bounds on the number of qubits required to correct errors and a formal proof that the classical bounds on the probability of error- correcting codes applies to error correcting quantum codes, provided that the interaction is dominated by an identity component.

Correcting Quantum Errors with Entanglement

We show how entanglement shared between encoder and decoder can simplify the theory of quantum error correction. The entanglement-assisted quantum codes we describe do not require the dual-containing constraint necessary for standard quantum error-correcting codes, thus allowing us to "quantize" all of classical linear coding theory. In particular, efficient modern classical codes that attain the Shannon capacity can be made into entanglement-assisted quantum codes attaining the hashing bound (closely related to the quantum capacity). For systems without large amounts of shared entanglement, these codes can also be used as catalytic codes, in which a small amount of initial entanglement enables quantum communication.

Theory of quantum error correction for general noise

A measure of quality of an error-correcting code is the maximum number of errors that it is able to correct. We show that a suitable notion of "number of errors" e makes sense for any quantum or classical system in the presence of arbitrary interactions. Thus, e-error-correcting codes protect information without requiring the usual assumptions of independence. We prove the existence of large codes for both quantum and classical information. By viewing error-correcting codes as subsystems, we relate codes to irreducible representations of operator algebras and show that noiseless subsystems are infinite-distance error-correcting codes.

Theory of quantum error-correcting codes

Quantum error correction will be necessary for preserving coherent states against noise and other unwanted interactions in quantum computation and communication. We develop a general theory of quantum error correction based on encoding states into larger Hilbert spaces subject to known interactions. We obtain necessary and sufficient conditions for the perfect recovery of an encoded state after its degradation by an interaction. The conditions depend only on the behavior of the logical states. We use them to give a recovery-operator-independent definition of error-correcting codes. We relate this definition to four others: the existence of a left inverse of the interaction, an explicit representation of the error syndrome using tensor products, perfect recovery of the completely entangled state, and an information theoretic identity. Two notions of fidelity and error for imperfect recovery are introduced, one for pure and the other for entangled states. The latter is more appropriate when using codes in a quantum memory or in applications of quantum teleportation to communication. We show that the error for entangled states is bounded linearly by the error for pure states. A formal definition of independent interactions for qubits is given. This leads to lower bounds on the number of qubits required to correct e errors and a formal proof that the classical bounds on the probability of error of e-error-correcting codes applies to e-error-correcting quantum codes, provided that the interaction is dominated by an identity component.