Ising on the donut: Regimes of topological quantum error correction from statistical mechanics

Abstract

Utility-scale quantum computers require quantum error correcting codes with large numbers of physical qubits to achieve sufficiently low logical error rates. The performance of quantum error correction (QEC) is generally predicted through large-scale numerical simulations, used to estimate thresholds, finite-size scaling, and exponential suppression of logical errors below threshold. The connection of QEC to models from statistical mechanics provides an alternative tool for analysing QEC performance. However, predicting the behaviour of these models also requires large-scale numerical simulations, as analytic solutions are not generally known. Here we exploit an exact mapping, from a toric code under bit-flip noise that is post-selected on being syndrome free to the exactly-solvable two-dimensional Ising model on a torus, to derive an analytic solution for the logical failure rate across its full domain of physical error rates. In particular, this mapping provides closed-form expressions for the logical failure rate in four distinct regimes: the path-counting, below-threshold (ordered), near-threshold (critical), and above-threshold (disordered) regimes. Our framework places a number of familiar and long-standing numerical observations on firm theoretical ground. It also motivates explicit ans\"atze for the conventional QEC setting of non-post-selected codes whose statistical mechanics mappings involve random-bond disorder. Specifically, we introduce an effective surface tension model for the below-threshold regime, and a new scaling ansatz for the near-threshold regime, derived from an analysis of the ground state energy cost distribution. By bridging statistical mechanics theory and quantum error correction practice, our results offer a new toolkit for designing, benchmarking, and understanding topological codes beyond current computational limits.