Quantum error correction on infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces

The European Physical Journal C , 2017

In quantum computing, nice error bases as generalization of the Pauli basis were introduced by Knill. These bases are known to be projective representations of finite groups. In this paper, we propose a group representation approach to the study of quantum stabilizer codes. We utilize this approach to define decoherence-free subspaces (DFSs). Unlike previous studies of DFSs, this type of DFSs does not involve any spatial symmetry assumptions on the system-environment interaction. Thus, it can be used to construct quantum error-avoiding codes (QEACs) that are fault tolerant automatically. We also propose a new simple construction of QEACs and subsequently develop several classes of QEACs. Finally, we present numerical simulation results encoding the logical error rate over physical error rate on the fidelity performance of these QEACs. Our study demonstrates that DFSs-based QEACs are capable of providing a generalized and unified framework for error-avoiding methods.

Physical Review A, 2013

Errors are inevitable during all kinds quantum informational tasks and quantum error-correcting codes (QECCs) are powerful tools to fight various quantum noises. For standard QECCs physical systems have the same number of energy levels. Here we shall propose QECCs over mixed alphabets, i.e., physical systems of different dimensions, and investigate their constructions as well as their quantum Singleton bound. We propose two kinds of constructions: a graphical construction based a graph-theoretical object composite coding clique and a projection-based construction. We illustrate our ideas using two alphabets by finding out some 1-error correcting or detecting codes over mixed alphabets, e.g., optimal ((6, 8, 3)) 4 5 2 1 , ((6, 4, 3)) 4 4 2 2 and ((5, 16, 2)) 4 3 2 2 code and suboptimal ((5, 9, 2)) 3 4 2 1 code. Our methods also shed light to the constructions of standard QECCs, e.g., the construction of the optimal ((6, 16, 3))4 code as well as the optimal ((2n + 3, p 2n+1 , 2))p codes with p = 4k.

Physical Review A, 2008

We present a general formalism for quantum error-correcting codes that encode both classical and quantum information (the EACQ formalism). This formalism unifies the entanglement-assisted formalism and classical error correction, and includes encoding, error correction, and decoding steps such that the encoded quantum and classical information can be correctly recovered by the receiver. We formally define this kind of quantum code using both stabilizer and symplectic language, and derive the appropriate error-correcting conditions. We give several examples to demonstrate the construction of such codes.

IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 2008

This paper describes a fundamental correspondence between Boolean functions and projection operators in Hilbert space. The correspondence is widely applicable, and it is used in this paper to provide a common mathematical framework for the design of both additive and non-additive quantum error correcting codes. The new framework leads to the construction of a variety of codes including an infinite class of codes that extend the original ((5, 6, 2)) code found by Rains [21]. It also extends to operator quantum error correcting codes.

Physical Review A, 2007

A formalism for quantum error correction based on operator algebras was introduced in [1] via consideration of the Heisenberg picture for quantum dynamics. The resulting theory allows for the correction of hybrid quantum-classical information and does not require an encoded state to be entirely in one of the corresponding subspaces or subsystems. Here, we provide detailed proofs for the results of [1], derive a number of new results, and we elucidate key points with expanded discussions. We also present several examples and indicate how the theory can be extended to operator spaces and general positive operator-valued measures.

Science, 2006

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.

Physical Review A, 2012

Codeword stabilized quantum codes provide a unified approach to constructing quantum errorcorrecting codes, including both additive and non-additive quantum codes. Standard codeword stabilized quantum codes encode quantum information into subspaces. The more general notion of encoding quantum information into a subsystem is known as an operator (or subsystem) quantum error correcting code. Most operator codes studied to date are based in the usual stabilizer formalism. We introduce operator quantum codes based on the codeword stabilized quantum code framework. Based on the necessary and sufficient conditions for operator quantum error correction, we derive a error correction condition for operator codeword stabilized quantum codes. Based on this condition, the word operators of a operator codeword stabilized quantum code are constructed from a set of classical binary errors induced by generators of the gauge group. We use this scheme to construct examples of both additive and non-additive codes that encode quantum information into a subsystem.

Phys Rev a, 2001

Decoherence-free subspaces (DFSs) shield quantum information from errors induced by the interaction with an uncontrollable environment. Here we study a model of correlated errors forming an Abelian subgroup (stabilizer) of the Pauli group (the group of tensor products of Pauli matrices). Unlike previous studies of DFSs, this type of error does not involve any spatial symmetry assumptions on the system-environment interaction. We solve the problem of universal, fault-tolerant quantum computation on the associated class of DFSs. We do so by introducing a hybrid DFS quantum error-correcting-code approach, where errors that arise due to departure of the codewords from the DFS are corrected actively.

We develop the theory of entanglement-assisted quantum error correcting codes (EAQECCs), a generalization of the stabilizer formalism to the setting in which the sender and receiver have access to pre-shared entanglement. Conventional stabilizer codes are equivalent to self-orthogonal symplectic codes. In contrast, EAQECCs do not require self-orthogonality, which greatly simplifies their construction. We show how any classical quaternary block code can be made into a EAQECC. Furthermore, the error-correcting power of the quantum codes follows directly from the power of the classical codes.

Physical Review Letters, 1999

An operator sum representation is derived for a decoherence-free subspace (DFS) and used to (i) show that DFSs are the class of quantum error correcting codes (QECCs) with fixed, unitary recovery operators, and (ii) find explicit representations for the Kraus operators of collective decoherence. We demonstrate how this can be used to construct a concatenated DFS-QECC code which protects against collective decoherence perturbed by independent decoherence. The code yields an error threshold which depends only on the perturbing independent decoherence rate.

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 1998

Quantum states are very delicate, so it is likely some sort of quantum error correction will be necessary to build reliable quantum computers. The theory of quantum error-correcting codes has some close ties to and some striking differences from the theory of classical error-correcting codes. Many quantum codes can be described in terms of the stabilizer of the codewords. The stabilizer is a finite Abelian group, and allows a straightforward characterization of the error-correcting properties of the code. The stabilizer formalism for quantum codes also illustrates the relationships to classical coding theory, particularly classical codes over GF(4), the finite field with four elements.

Physical Review A, 2010

Codeword stabilized (CWS) codes are, in general, non-additive quantum codes that can correct errors by an exhaustive search of different error patterns, similar to the way that we decode classical non-linear codes. For an n-qubit quantum code correcting errors on up to t qubits, this brute-force approach consecutively tests different errors of weight t or less, and employs a separate n-qubit measurement in each test. In this paper, we suggest an error grouping technique that allows to simultaneously test large groups of errors in a single measurement. This structured error recovery technique exponentially reduces the number of measurements by about 3 t times. While it still leaves exponentially many measurements for a generic CWS code, the technique is equivalent to syndrome-based recovery for the special case of additive CWS codes.

Physical Review Letters, 1996

We exhibit a simple, systematic procedure for detecting and correcting errors using any of the recently reported quantum error-correcting codes. The procedure is shown explicitly for a code in which one qubit is mapped into five. The quantum networks obtained are fault tolerant, that is, they can function successfully even if errors occur during the error correction. Our construction is derived using a recently introduced group-theoretic framework for unifying all known quantum codes.

2011 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory Proceedings, 2011

This work deals with zero-error subs p aces of q uan tum channels and their intimate connection with q uantum and classical codes. We give o p erator algebraic characterizations of such subs p aces and give some u pp er and lower bounds on their maximum dimension. Classical and q uantum codes and (quantum) noiseless subsystems may be considered as s p ecial cases of zero-error subs p aces. We ex p lore several conse q uences of this fact.

submitted to Springer- …, 2004