arXiv subjects

Todd A. Brun

Publications and source records attributed to Todd A. Brun.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Holonomic quantum gates via continuous measurement in bosonic codes: GKP and cat states

We apply continuous measurement-based holonomic quantum computation (CMHQC) to bosonic quantum error-correcting codes and develop explicit protocols for both four-component cat codes and Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) codes. In this framework, a continuously monitored time-dependent codespace undergoes a closed trajectory on the Grassmannian manifold while Zeno confinement suppresses departures from the instantaneous code subspace. For cat codes, we construct a family of squeezed-cat trajectories whose projected Wilczek-Zee connection generates arbitrary logical Z rotations, including non-Clifford T-gates. For GKP codes, we introduce a translated-lattice trajectory that realizes the logical GKP T gate through a purely geometric holonomy. We derive the corresponding time-dependent projectors, analytically evaluate the projected connections, and show that the resulting holonomies reproduce the desired logical operations without Hamiltonian control. Furthermore, we analyze the error-correcting capabilities of the instantaneous codespaces by establishing dressed Knill-Laflamme conditions for the relevant bosonic error models and derive analytical estimates for leakage induced by finite-strength continuous measurements. Our results provide a concrete realization of measurement-induced holonomic control in experimentally relevant bosonic platforms and establish a full fault-tolerant logical gate implementation.

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arXiv2026

Protection of Exponential Operation using Stabilizer Codes in the Early Fault Tolerance Era

Quantum error correction offers a promising path to suppress errors in quantum processors, but the resources required to protect logical operations from noise, especially non-Clifford operations, pose a substantial challenge to achieve practical quantum advantage in the early fault-tolerant quantum computing (EFTQC) era. In this work, we develop a systematic scheme to encode exponential maps of the form $\exp(-iθP)$ into stabilizer codes with simple circuit structures and low qubit overhead. We provide encoded circuits with small first-order logical error rate after postselection for the [[n, n-2, 2]] quantum error-detecting codes and the [[5, 1, 3]], [[7, 1, 3]], and [[15, 7, 3]] quantum error-correcting codes. Detailed analysis shows that under the level of physical noise of current devices, our encoding scheme is 4--7 times less noisy than the unencoded operation, while at most 3% of runs need to be discarded.

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arXiv2026

Universal Weakly Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computation via Code Switching in the [[8,3,2]] Code

Code-switching offers a route to universal, fault-tolerant quantum computation by circumventing the limitation implied by the Eastin-Knill theorem against a universal transversal gate set within a single quantum code. Here, we present a fault-tolerant code-switching protocol between two versions of the $[[8, 3, 2]]$ code. One version supports weakly fault-tolerant single-qubit Clifford gates, while the other supports a logical $\overline{\mathrm{CCZ}}$ gate via transversal $T/T^\dagger$ together with logical $\overline{\mathrm{CZ}}$, $\overline{\mathrm{CNOT}}$, and $\overline{\mathrm{SWAP}}$ gates. Because both codes have distance 2, the protocol operates in a postselected, error-detecting regime: single faults lead to detectable outcomes, and accepted runs exhibit quadratic suppression of logical error rates. This yields a universal scheme for postselected fault-tolerant computation. We validate the protocol numerically through simulations of state preparation, code switching, and a three-logical-qubit implementation of Grover's search.

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arXiv2026

Adaptive Loss-tolerant Syndrome Measurements

In the presence of qubit losses, the building blocks of fault-tolerant error correction (FTEC) must be revisited. Existing loss-tolerant approaches are mainly architecture-specific, and little attention has been given to optimizing the syndrome measurement sequences under loss. Schemes designed for the standard Pauli error model are not directly applicable because the syndrome patterns differ when both Pauli errors and erasures can occur. Based on recent advances in loss detection units and loss-tolerant syndrome extraction gadgets, we extend the study of adaptive Shor-style measurement sequences to the mixed error model. We begin by discussing how to adaptively convert correctable erasures into located errors. The minimal overhead is quantified by the number of stabilizer measurements, which can be reduced to a subgroup dimension problem for erasures arising in any FTEC circuit for qubits and prime-dimensional qudits. As a byproduct, we provide the construction of the canonical generating set with respect to a given bipartite partition for a stabilizer group on qudits of composite dimension. We then generalize both the weak and strong FTEC conditions. Finally, we present adaptive syndrome-measurement protocols for the mixed error model, generalizing the adaptive protocols for the standard Pauli error model.

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arXiv2026

Steering paths mid-flight for fault-tolerance in measurement-based holonomic gates

Continuous measurement-based holonomic quantum computation provides a route to universal logical computation in quantum error correcting codes. We introduce a fault-tolerant framework for implementing measurement-based holonomic gates that leverages continuous measurements with real-time feedback. We show that non-Markovian decoherence is intrinsically suppressed through the quantum Zeno effect, while Markovian errors are identified by the decoding of measurement records to reveal the rotated syndrome subspace populated during the evolution. This information enables steering holonomic paths mid-flight to ensure that the final evolution realizes the target logical gate. We further demonstrate that non-adiabatic effects give rise to measurement-induced errors, and we show that these can also be corrected by an analogous protocol. This approach relaxes the stringent adiabaticity requirement and enables faster implementation of holonomic gates.

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arXiv2026

Optimizing continuous-time quantum error correction for arbitrary noise

We present a protocol using machine learning (ML) to simultaneously optimize the quantum error-correcting code space and the corresponding recovery map in the framework of continuous-time quantum error correction. Given a Hilbert space and a noise process -- potentially correlated across both space and time -- the protocol identifies the optimal recovery strategy, measured by the average logical state fidelity. This approach enables the discovery of recovery schemes tailored to arbitrary device-level noise.

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arXiv2025

Measure and Forget Dynamics in Random Circuits

Unrecorded or ``forgetful'' measurements -- physically, a local dephasing channel -- can arise naturally as syndrome-measurement errors in fault-tolerant protocols and as uncontrolled decoherence in open systems. We numerically study random Clifford circuits in which recorded projective $Z$ measurements compete with unrecorded (forgotten) $Z$ measurements, focusing on the dynamical, finite-depth regime relevant to decoding and quantum memory. In the forget-only limit the global entropy density thermalizes at a rate independent of system size, and the forgetting rate at which thermalization sets in decays with circuit depth as a power law $p_f^{\ast}\sim d^{v}$, consistent with the critical-depth scaling inversely with the noise rate found for related noisy-circuit quantities. With recorded measurements present, the mutual information $I(A{:}B)$ -- which quantifies the recoverable correlation between the two halves -- develops a finite-depth peak whose height grows sub-extensively with $N$: its effective scaling exponent $\alpha(p_f)$ decreases monotonically, so that forgetting drives the recoverable correlation from near-volume-law toward area-law scaling. We map the recoverability landscape in the $(p_m,p_f)$ plane and show that forgetting destroys the measurement-induced purification transition. These results complement earlier stat-mech analyses of noisy monitored circuits and quantify the competition between measurement and forgetting relevant to quantum error correction.

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arXiv2025

Continuous measurement-based holonomic quantum computation

We propose a scheme to generate holonomies using the Quantum Zeno effect, enabling logical unitary operations on quantum stabilizer codes purely through measurements. The quantum error-correcting code space is adiabatically rotated by measuring a succession of rotated stabilizer generators. When the rotation is sufficiently slow, the state remains confined to the instantaneous code space by the Zeno effect; otherwise, measurement-induced jumps can occur into a rotated orthogonal subspace. If the rotation completes a closed loop, the code state is transformed by a holonomy: a logical unitary transformation. We analytically derive the sequence of rotated stabilizer generators that produce a desired holonomy, and find the total time required to implement this procedure with a given success probability. If a measurement moves the state to the orthogonal subspace, we present a method to alter the path of the rotated observables to return the state either to the original code or the original error space with the desired holonomy; in the latter case, the holonomy is emulated. Finally, we establish conditions on the code and the measured observables that preserve the correctability of a given error set. When a code fails to meet the error-correcting conditions, our protocol can be applicable by augmenting the code with ancilla qubits.

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arXiv2025

Bias-tailored single-shot quantum LDPC codes

Quantum hardware rarely suffers equal amounts of bit-flip ($X$) and phase-flip ($Z$) errors; one type is often much more common than the other. A code that is ``bias-tailored'' can exploit this imbalance, lowering the fault-tolerance overhead. A complementary idea, called "single-shot" error correction, aims to recover from data errors and noisy measurements in a single round of stabilizer readout, avoiding slow repetition cycles. In this work, we combine these two ideas and build a hierarchy of new quantum codes. The full construction starts from the syndrome-encoded hypergraph product code and then tailors it to the dominant error type. The resulting code keeps the single-shot guarantee for every noise model while boosting the threshold whenever $X$ and $Z$ errors are asymmetric. By removing carefully chosen blocks of stabilizers we obtain two trimmed variants. The first, called the simplified code, cuts the physical-qubit count by $1/6$ and halves the number of stabilizer measurements, yet its minimum distance grows quadratically compared to the standard design and its biased noise threshold is unchanged. The second, called the reduced code, achieves the same hardware savings but trades away single-shot protection for purely $X$ or purely $Z$ noise; instead it remains single-shot under balanced, or depolarizing, noise. In settings where strongly biased noise is likely, either trimmed code offers a less resource-intensive alternative to the full construction. As a concrete illustration, we lift the two-dimensional XZZX surface code to a three-dimensional cubic lattice and show that this ``3D XZZX'' code is an explicit member of the simplified family. Taken together, these bias-tailored single-shot codes provide an adjustable set of code design alternatives, allowing tradeoffs between hardware overhead and noise types.

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arXiv2025

Bounds on QCA Lattice Spacing from Data on Lorentz Violation

Recent work has demonstrated that discrete quantum walks, when extended to quantum cellular automata (QCA), can, in the continuum limit, reproduce relativistic wave equations and quantum field theories (QFTs), including free quantum electrodynamics (QED). This QCA/QFT correspondence bridges quantum information processing and high-energy physics, raising fundamental questions about the nature of spacetime: whether it is the continuum QFT or the discrete QCA that is fundamental. For while Lorentz invariance appears robust experimentally, it may only approximate a deeper discrete structure, particularly at Planck-scale energies. This high-energy Lorentz violation is potentially observable either through cumulative effects over cosmic distances or via small deviations at accessible energies. In this paper, we analyze the QCA corresponding to QED and show that it implies both a deviation from the speed of light and spatial anisotropies. Using current experimental and astrophysical constraints, we place upper bounds on the QCA lattice spacing, providing insight into the plausibility of a fundamentally discrete spacetime.

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arXiv2025

Continuous quantum correction on Markovian and Non-Markovian models

We investigate continuous quantum error correction, comparing performance under a Markovian error model to two distinct non-Markovian models. The first non-Markovian model involves an interaction Hamiltonian between the system and an environmental qubit via an X-X coupling, with a "cooling" bath acting on the environment qubit. This model is known to exhibit abrupt transitions between Markovian and non-Markovian behavior. The second non-Markovian model uses the post-Markovian master equation (PMME), which represents the bath correlation through a memory kernel; we consider an exponentially decaying kernel and both underdamped and overdamped dynamics. We systematically compare these non-Markovian error models against the Markovian case and against each other, for a variety of different codes. We start with a single qubit, which can be solved analytically. We then consider the three-qubit repetition code and the five-qubit "perfect" code. In all cases, we find that the fidelity decays more rapidly in the Markovian case than in either non-Markovian model, suggesting that continuous quantum error correction has enhanced performance against non-Markovian noise. We attribute this difference to the presence of a quantum Zeno regime in both non-Markovian models.

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arXiv2025

Quantum Electrodynamics from Quantum Cellular Automata, and the Tension Between Symmetry, Locality and Positive Energy

We show that free QED is equivalent to the continuous-space-and-time limit of Fermi and Bose lattice quantum cellular automata theories derived from quantum random walks satisfying simple symmetry and unitarity conditions. In doing so we define the Fermi and Bose theories in a unified manner using the usual fermion internal space but a boson internal space that is six-dimensional. We show that the reduction to a two-dimensional boson internal space (two helicity states arising from spin-1 plus the photon transversality condition) comes from restricting the quantum cellular automaton theory to positive energies. We briefly examine common symmetries of quantum cellular automata, and how time-reversal symmetry demands the existence of negative-energy solutions. These solutions produce a tension in coupling the Fermi and Bose theories, in which the strong locality of quantum cellular automata seems to require a nonzero amplitude to produce negative-energy states, leading to an unphysical cascade of negative-energy particles. However, we show in a 1D model that by extending interactions over a larger (but finite) range it is possible to exponentially suppress the production of negative-energy particles to the point where they can be neglected.

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arXiv2024

High Fidelity Artificial Quantum Thermal State Generation using Encoded Coherent States

Quantum steganography is a powerful method for information security where communications between a sender and receiver are disguised as naturally occurring noise in a channel. We encoded the phase and amplitude of weak coherent laser states such that a third party monitoring the communications channel, measuring the flow of optical states through the channel, would see an amalgamation of states indistinguishable from thermal noise light. Using quantum state tomography, we experimentally reconstructed the density matrices for artificially engineered thermal states and spontaneous emission from an optical amplifier and verified a state fidelity F>0.98 when compared with theoretical thermal states.

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arXiv2024

Steganographic Entanglement Sharing

In a previous work we have discussed a theoretical grounding for classical steganography using quantum Fock and coherent states in an optical channel, building on previous work by Wu et al. In that work, we discussed protocols which disguise communications to mimic the thermal state of a harmonic oscillator. In this work we will extend this to transmission of quantum information, and demonstrate the utility of steganographic entanglement sharing in practical contexts like nonclassical state teleportation, even with the presence of an active eavesdropper.

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arXiv2024

Weakly Fault-Tolerant Computation in a Quantum Error-Detecting Code

Many current quantum error-correcting codes that achieve full fault tolerance suffer from having low ratios of logical to physical qubits and significant overhead. This makes them difficult to implement on current noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers and results in the inability to perform quantum algorithms at useful scales with near-term quantum processors. As a result, calculations are generally done without encoding. We propose a middle ground between these two approaches: constructions in the $[[n,n-2,2]]$ quantum error-detecting code that can detect any error from a single faulty gate by measuring the stabilizer generators of the code and additional ancillas at the end of the computation. This achieves weak fault tolerance. As we show, this yields a significant improvement over no error correction for small computations with low enough physical error probabilities and requires much less overhead than codes that achieve full fault tolerance. We give constructions for a set of gates that achieve universal quantum computation in this error-detecting code, while satisfying weak fault tolerance up to analog imprecision on the physical rotation gate.

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arXiv2021

Influence of coin symmetry on infinite hitting times in quantum walks

Classical random walks on finite graphs have an underrated property: a walk from any vertex can reach every other vertex in finite time, provided they are connected. Discrete-time quantum walks on finite connected graphs however, can have infinite hitting times. This phenomenon is related to graph symmetry, as previously characterized by the group of direction-preserving graph automorphisms that trivially affect the coin Hilbert space. If a graph is symmetric enough (in a particular sense) then the associated quantum walk unitary will contain eigenvectors that do not overlap a set of target vertices, for any coin flip operator. These eigenvectors span the Infinite Hitting Time (IHT) subspace. Quantum states in the IHT subspace never reach the target vertices, leading to infinite hitting times. However, this is not the whole story: the graph of the 3D cube does not satisfy this symmetry constraint, yet quantum walks on this graph with certain symmetric coins can exhibit infinite hitting times. We study the effect of coin symmetry by analyzing the group of coin-permutation symmetries (CPS): graph automorphisms that act nontrivially on the coin Hilbert space but leave the coin operator invariant. Unitaries using highly symmetric coins with large CPS groups, such as the permutation-invariant Grover coin, are associated with higher probabilities of never arriving, as a result of their larger IHT subspaces.

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arXiv2020

Fermionic and bosonic quantum field theories from quantum cellular automata in three spatial dimensions

Quantum walks on lattices can give rise to relativistic wave equations in the long-wavelength limit, but going beyond the single-particle case has proven challenging, especially in more than one spatial dimension. We construct quantum cellular automata for distinguishable particles based on two different quantum walks, and show that by restricting to the antisymmetric and symmetric subspaces, respectively, a multiparticle theory for free fermions and bosons in three spatial dimensions can be produced. This construction evades a no-go theorem that prohibits the usual fermionization constructions in more than one spatial dimension. In the long-wavelength limit, these recover Dirac field theory and Maxwell field theory, i.e., free QED.

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arXiv2020

Achieving a quantum smart workforce

Interest in building dedicated Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE) education programs has greatly expanded in recent years. These programs are inherently convergent, complex, often resource intensive and likely require collaboration with a broad variety of stakeholders. In order to address this combination of challenges, we have captured ideas from many members in the community. This manuscript not only addresses policy makers and funding agencies (both public and private and from the regional to the international level) but also contains needs identified by industry leaders and discusses the difficulties inherent in creating an inclusive QISE curriculum. We report on the status of eighteen post-secondary education programs in QISE and provide guidance for building new programs. Lastly, we encourage the development of a comprehensive strategic plan for quantum education and workforce development as a means to make the most of the ongoing substantial investments being made in QISE.

physics.ed-ph↗