Michael E. Beverland

Universal transversal gates with color codes: A simplified approach

We provide a simplified yet rigorous presentation of the ideas from Bombins paper (arXiv:1311.0879v3). Our presentation is self-contained, and assumes only basic concepts from quantum error correction. We provide an explicit construction of a family of color codes in arbitrary dimensions and describe some of their crucial properties. Within this framework, we explicitly show how to transversally implement the generalized phase gate R_n =diag(1,e^(2πi/2^n)), which deviates from the method in the aforementioned paper, allowing an arguably simpler proof. We describe how to implement the Hadamard gate H fault tolerantly using code switching. In three dimensions, this yields, together with the transversal controlled-NOT (CNOT), a fault-tolerant universal gate set {H,cnot,R_3} without state distillation.

Protected gates for topological quantum field theories

We study restrictions on locality-preserving unitary logical gates for topological quantum codes in two spatial dimensions. A locality-preserving operation is one which maps local operators to local operators --- for example, a constant-depth quantum circuit of geometrically local gates, or evolution for a constant time governed by a geometrically-local bounded-strength Hamiltonian. Locality-preserving logical gates of topological codes are intrinsically fault tolerant because spatially localized errors remain localized, and hence sufficiently dilute errors remain correctable. By invoking general properties of two-dimensional topological field theories, we find that the locality-preserving logical gates are severely limited for codes which admit non-abelian anyons; in particular, there are no locality-preserving logical gates on the torus or the sphere with M punctures if the braiding of anyons is computationally universal. Furthermore, for Ising anyons on the M-punctured sphere, locality-preserving gates must be elements of the logical Pauli group. We derive these results by relating logical gates of a topological code to automorphisms of the Verlinde algebra of the corresponding anyon model, and by requiring the logical gates to be compatible with basis changes in the logical Hilbert space arising from local F-moves and the mapping class group.

Flag fault-tolerant error correction with arbitrary distance codes

Fault-tolerant error correction (EC) is desirable for performing large quantum computations. In this disclosure, example fault-tolerant EC protocols are disclosed that use flag circuits, which signal when errors resulting from υ faults have weight greater than υ. Also disclosed are general constructions for these circuits (also referred to as flag qubits) for measuring arbitrary weight stabilizers. The example flag EC protocol is applicable to stabilizer codes of arbitrary distance that satisfy a set of conditions and uses fewer qubits than other schemes, such as Shor, Steane and Knill error correction. Also disclosed are examples of infinite code families that satisfy these conditions and analyze the behaviour of distance-three and -five examples numerically. Using fewer resources than Shor EC, the example flag EC protocols can be used in low-overhead fault-tolerant EC protocols using large low density parity check quantum codes.

Spectrum estimation of density operators with alkaline-earth atoms

We show that Ramsey spectroscopy of fermionic alkaline-earth atoms in a square-well trap provides an efficient and accurate estimate for the eigenspectrum of a density matrix whose n copies are stored in the nuclear spins of n such atoms. This spectrum estimation is enabled by the high symmetry of the interaction Hamiltonian, dictated, in turn, by the decoupling of the nuclear spin from the electrons and by the shape of the square-well trap. Practical performance of this procedure and its potential applications to quantum computing and time keeping with alkaline-earth atoms are discussed.

Realizing exactly solvable SU(N) magnets with thermal atoms

We show that n thermal fermionic alkaline-earth-metal atoms in a flat-bottom trap allow one to robustly implement a spin model displaying two symmetries: the S n symmetry that permutes atoms occupying different vibrational levels of the trap and the SU(N) symmetry associated with N nuclear spin states. The symmetries make the model exactly solvable, which, in turn, enables the analytic study of dynamical processes such as spin diffusion in this SU(N) system. We also show how to use this system to generate entangled states that allow for Heisenberg-limited metrology. This highly symmetric spin model should be experimentally realizable even when the vibrational levels are occupied according to a high-temperature thermal or an arbitrary nonthermal distribution.

Beyond the Spin Model Approximation for Ramsey Spectroscopy

Ramsey spectroscopy has become a powerful technique for probing nonequilibrium dynamics of internal (pseudospin) degrees of freedom of interacting systems. In many theoretical treatments, the key to understanding the dynamics has been to assume the external (motional) degrees of freedom are decoupled from the pseudospin degrees of freedom. Determining the validity of this approximation-known as the spin model approximation-has not been addressed in detail. Here we shed light in this direction by calculating Ramsey dynamics exactly for two interacting spin-1/2 particles in a harmonic trap. We focus on s-wave-interacting fermions in quasi one- and two-dimensional geometries. We find that in one dimension the spin model assumption works well over a wide range of experimentally relevant conditions, but can fail at time scales longer than those set by the mean interaction energy. Surprisingly, in two dimensions a modified version of the spin model is exact to first order in the interaction strength. This analysis is important for a correct interpretation of Ramsey spectroscopy and has broad applications ranging from precision measurements to quantum information and to fundamental probes of many-body systems.

Modeling noise and error correction for Majorana-based quantum computing

Majorana-based quantum computing seeks to use the non-local nature of Majorana zero modes to store and manipulate quantum information in a topologically protected way. While noise is anticipated to be significantly suppressed in such systems, finite temperature and system size result in residual errors. In this work, we connect the underlying physical error processes in Majorana-based systems to the noise models used in a fault tolerance analysis. Standard qubit-based noise models built from Pauli operators do not capture leading order noise processes arising from quasiparticle poisoning events, thus it is not obvious {\it a priori} that such noise models can be usefully applied to a Majorana-based system. We develop stochastic Majorana noise models that are generalizations of the standard qubit-based models and connect the error probabilities defining these models to parameters of the physical system. Using these models, we compute pseudo-thresholds for the

Toward Realizable Quantum Computers

d=5

Three-dimensional color code thresholds via statistical-mechanical mapping

Bacon-Shor subsystem code. Our results emphasize the importance of correlated errors induced in multi-qubit measurements. Moreover, we find that for sufficiently fast quasiparticle relaxation the errors are well described by Pauli operators. This work bridges the divide between physical errors in Majorana-based quantum computing architectures and the significance of these errors in a quantum error correcting code.