arXiv subjects

Victor V. Albert

Publications and source records attributed to Victor V. Albert.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2026

Quantum error correction beyond $SU(2)$: spin, bosonic, and permutation-invariant codes from convex geometry

We develop a framework for constructing quantum error-correcting codes and logical gates for three types of spaces -- composite permutation-invariant spaces of many qubits or qudits, composite constant-excitation Fock-state spaces of many bosonic modes, and monolithic nuclear state spaces of atoms, ions, and molecules. By identifying all three spaces with discrete simplices and representations of the Lie group $SU(q)$, we prove that many codes and their gates in $SU(q)$ can be inter-converted between the three state spaces. We construct new code instances for all three spaces using classical $\ell_1$ codes and Tverberg's theorem, a classic result from convex geometry. We obtain new families of quantum codes with distance that scales almost linearly with the code length $N$ by constructing $\ell_1$ codes based on combinatorial patterns called Sidon sets and utilizing their Tverberg partitions. This improves upon the existing designs for all the state spaces. We present explicit constructions of codes with shorter length or lower total spin/excitation than known codes with similar parameters, new bosonic codes with exotic Gaussian gates, as well as examples of short codes with distance larger than the known constructions.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Calderbank-Shor-Steane codes on group-valued qudits

Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) codes are a versatile quantum error-correcting family built out of commuting $X$- and $Z$-type checks. We introduce CSS-like codes on $G$-valued qudits for any finite group $G$ that reduce to qubit CSS codes for $G = \mathbb{Z}_2$ yet generalize the Kitaev quantum double model for general groups. The $X$-checks of our group-CSS codes correspond to left and/or right multiplication by group elements, while $Z$-checks project onto solutions to group word equations. We describe quantum-double models on oriented two-dimensional CW complexes (which need not cellulate a manifold) and prove that, when $G$ is non-Abelian and simple, every $G$-covariant group-CSS code with suitably upper-bounded $Z$-check weight and lower-bounded $Z$-distance reduces to a CW quantum double. We describe the codespace and logical operators of CW quantum doubles via the same intuition used to obtain logical structure of surface codes. We obtain distance bounds for codes on non-Abelian simple groups from the graph underlying the CW complex, and construct intrinsically non-Abelian code families with asymptotically optimal rate and distances. Adding "ghost vertices" to the CW complex generalizes quantum double models with defects and rough boundary conditions whose logical structure can be understood without reference to non-Abelian anyons or defects. Several non-invertible symmetry-protected topological states, both with ordinary and higher-form symmetries, are the unique codewords of simply-connected CW quantum doubles with a single ghost vertex.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Correlated Noise Estimation with Quantum Sensor Networks

We address the metrological problem of estimating collective stochastic properties imprinted on a network of quantum sensors. Canonical examples include center-of-mass quadrature fluctuations in a system of bosonic modes and correlated dephasing in an ensemble of qubits (e.g., spins), bosons, or fermions. We develop a theoretical framework to determine the limits of correlated (weak) noise estimation with quantum sensor networks and reveal the requirements for entanglement advantage. Notably, an advantage emerges from the synergistic interplay between quantum correlations of the sensors and ``classical'' correlations of the noises. We determine optimal entangled probe states and identify a sensing protocol -- reminiscent of a many-body echo -- that achieves the fundamental limits of measurement sensitivity for a broad class of problems, unveiling a route towards entanglement-enhanced metrology of correlated many-body phenomena.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Quantum theory of molecular orientations

We formulate a quantum phase space for rotational and nuclear-spin states of rigid molecules. For each nuclear spin isomer, we re-derive the isomer's admissible angular momentum states from molecular geometry and nuclear-spin data, introduce its angular position states using quantization theory, and develop a generalized Fourier transform converting between the two. We classify molecules into three types -- asymmetric, rotationally symmetric, and perrotationally symmetric -- with the last type having no macroscopic analogue due to nuclear-spin statistics constraints. We discuss two general features in perrotationally symmetric state spaces that are Hamiltonian-independent and induced solely by symmetry and spin statistics. First, we quantify when and how an isomer's state space is completely rotation-spin entangled, meaning that it does not admit any separable states. Second, we identify isomers whose position states house an internal pseudo-spin or "fiber" degree of freedom, and the fiber's Berry phase or matrix after adiabatic changes in position yields naturally robust operations, akin to braiding anyonic quasiparticles or realizing fault-tolerant quantum gates. We outline how the fiber can be used as a quantum error-correcting code and discuss scenarios where these features can be experimentally probed

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Hybrid Oscillator-Qudit Quantum Processors: stabilizer states, stabilizer codes, symplectic operations, and non-commutative geometry

We construct stabilizer states and error-correcting codes on combinations of discrete- and continuous-variable systems, generalizing the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) quantum lattice formalism. Our framework absorbs the discrete phase space of a qudit into a hybrid phase space parameterizable entirely by the continuous variables of a harmonic oscillator. The unit cell of a hybrid quantum lattice grows with the qudit dimension, yielding a way to simultaneously measure an arbitrarily large range of non-commuting position and momentum displacements. Simple hybrid states can be obtained by applying a conditional displacement to a Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) state and a Pauli eigenstate, or by encoding some of the physical qudits of a stabilizer state into a GKP code. The states' oscillator-qudit entanglement cannot be generated using symplectic (i.e., Gaussian-Clifford) operations, distinguishing them as a resource from tensor products of oscillator and qudit stabilizer states. Simple hybrid codes can be thought of as subsystem GKP codes whose gauge factor is entangled with a qudit. Our numerical investigations suggest that such codes can sometimes outperform GKP codes against physical noise, and their decoders can be tuned to accommodate either more qudit or more oscillator errors. We also relate stabilizer codes to non-commutative tori, identifying that a general construction of such tori yields multi-mode multi-qudit extensions of GKP codes. We explicitly calculate these codes' logical dimension and logical operators by utilizing the Morita equivalence between their stabilizer and logical tori. We provide examples using commutation matrices, integer symplectic matrices, and binary codes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Absolutely Maximal Entanglement in Continuous Variables

We explore absolutely maximal entanglement (AME) and k-uniformity in continuous-variable (CV) quantum systems, and show that-unlike in qudit systems-such entanglement is readily realizable in both Gaussian and non-Gaussian quantum states of multiple modes. We demonstrate that Gaussian CV cluster states are generically AME, rederiving the results of [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 070501 (2009)] from a generalized stabilizer formalism, and provide explicit constructions based on Cauchy, Vandermonde, totally positive, and real-block-code generator matrices. We further extend AME properties to a family of non-Gaussian states constructed from discrete Zak basis states that incorporate grid states (a.k.a., Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill states) as non-Gaussian resources. Realizations of CV AME states enable open-destination multi-party CV teleportation, CV quantum secret sharing, CV majority-agreed key distribution, perfect-tensor networks on arbitrary geometries, and multi-unitary circuits. Our extension to non-Gaussian AME states may further provide robustness to Gaussian noise and benefits to quantum CV information processing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Letting the tiger out of its cage: bosonic coding without concatenation

Continuous-variable cat codes are encodings into a single photonic or phononic mode that offer a promising avenue for hardware-efficient fault-tolerant quantum computation. Protecting information in a cat code requires measuring the mode's occupation number modulo two, but this can be relaxed to a linear occupation-number constraint using the alternative two-mode pair-cat encoding. We construct multimode codes with similar linear constraints using any two integer matrices satisfying a CSS-like homological condition of a quantum rotor code. Just like the pair-cat code, syndrome extraction can be performed in tandem with stabilizing dissipation using current superconducting-circuit designs. The framework includes codes with various finite- or infinite-dimensional codespaces, and codes with finite or infinite Fock-state support. It encompasses two-component cat, pair-cat, dual-rail, two-mode binomial, various bosonic repetition codes, and aspects of chi-squared encodings while also yielding codes from homological products, lattices, generalized coherent states, and algebraic varieties. Among our examples are analogues of repetition codes, the Shor code, and a surface-like code that is not a concatenation of a known cat code with the qubit surface code. Codewords are coherent states projected into a Fock-state subspace defined by an integer matrix, and their overlaps are governed by Gelfand-Kapranov-Zelevinsky hypergeometric functions.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Covariant Quantum Error-Correcting Codes with Metrological Entanglement Advantage

We show that a subset of the basis for the irreducible representations of a tensor-product SU(2) rotation forms a covariant approximate quantum error-correcting code with transversal U(1) logical gates. Generalizing previous work on ``thermodynamic codes" to general local spin and different irreducible representations using only properties of the angular momentum algebra, we obtain bounds on the code inaccuracy under generic noise on any known $d$ sites, under independent and identically distributed noise, and under heralded $d$-local erasures. We demonstrate that this family of codes protects a probe state with quantum Fisher information surpassing the standard quantum limit when the sensing parameter couples to the generator of the U(1) logical gate.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Bounds on Autonomous Quantum Error Correction

Autonomous quantum memories are a way to passively protect quantum information using engineered dissipation that creates an ``always-on'' decoder. We analyze Markovian autonomous decoders that can be implemented with a wide range of qubit and bosonic error-correcting codes, and derive several upper bounds and a lower bound on the logical error rate in terms of correction and noise rates. These bounds suggest that, in general, there is always a correction rate, possibly size-dependent, above which autonomous memories exhibit arbitrarily long coherence times. For any given autonomous memory, size dependence of this correction rate is difficult to rule out: we point to common scenarios where autonomous decoders that stochastically implement active error correction must operate at rates that grow with code size. For codes with a threshold, we show that it is possible to achieve faster-than-polynomial decay of the logical error rate with code size by using superlogarithmic scaling of the correction rate. We illustrate our results with several examples. One example is an exactly solvable global dissipative toric code model that can achieve an effective logical error rate that decreases exponentially with the linear lattice size, provided that the recovery rate grows proportionally with the linear lattice size.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Non-invertible symmetry-protected topological order in a group-based cluster state

Despite growing interest in beyond-group symmetries in quantum condensed matter systems, there are relatively few microscopic lattice models explicitly realizing these symmetries, and many phenomena have yet to be studied at the microscopic level. We introduce a one-dimensional stabilizer Hamiltonian composed of group-based Pauli operators whose ground state is a $G\times \text{Rep}(G)$-symmetric state: the $G \textit{ cluster state}$ introduced in Brell, New Journal of Physics 17, 023029 (2015) [at http://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/2/023029]. We show that this state lies in a symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phase protected by $G\times \text{Rep}(G)$ symmetry, distinct from the symmetric product state by a duality argument. We identify several signatures of SPT order, namely protected edge modes, string order parameters, and topological response. We discuss how $G$ cluster states may be used as a universal resource for measurement-based quantum computation, explicitly working out the case where $G$ is a semidirect product of abelian groups.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

CURIE: Evaluating LLMs On Multitask Scientific Long Context Understanding and Reasoning

Scientific problem-solving involves synthesizing information while applying expert knowledge. We introduce CURIE, a scientific long-Context Understanding,Reasoning and Information Extraction benchmark to measure the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) in scientific problem-solving and assisting scientists in realistic workflows. This benchmark introduces ten challenging tasks with a total of 580 problems and solution pairs curated by experts in six disciplines - materials science, condensed matter physics, quantum computing, geospatial analysis, biodiversity, and proteins - covering both experimental and theoretical work-flows in science. We evaluate a range of closed and open LLMs on tasks in CURIE which requires domain expertise, comprehension of long in-context information,and multi-step reasoning. While Gemini Flash 2.0 and Claude-3 show consistent high comprehension across domains, the popular GPT-4o and command-R+ fail dramatically on protein sequencing tasks. With the best performance at 32% there is much room for improvement for all models. We hope that insights gained from CURIE can guide the future development of LLMs in sciences. Evaluation code and data are in https://github.com/google/curie

cs.CL↗

arXiv2025

Transversal Clifford and T-gate codes of short length and high distance

The non-local interactions in several quantum device architectures allow for the realization of more compact quantum encodings while retaining the same degree of protection against noise. Anticipating that short to medium-length codes will soon be realizable, it is important to construct stabilizer codes that, for a given code distance, admit fault-tolerant implementations of logical gates with the fewest number of physical qubits. To this aim, we construct three kinds of codes encoding a single logical qubit for distances up to $31$. First, we construct the smallest known doubly even codes, all of which admit a transversal implementation of the Clifford group. Applying a doubling procedure [arXiv:1509.03239] to such codes yields the smallest known weak triply even codes for the same distances and number of encoded qubits. This second family of codes admit a transversal implementation of the logical $\texttt{T}$-gate. Relaxing the triply even property, we obtain our third family of triorthogonal codes with an even lower overhead at the cost of requiring additional Clifford gates to achieve the same logical operation. To our knowledge, these are the smallest known triorthogonal codes for their respective distances. While not qLDPC, the stabilizer generator weights of the code families with transversal $\texttt{T}$-gates scale roughly as the square root of their lengths.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Clifford operations and homological codes for rotors and oscillators

We develop quantum information processing primitives for the planar rotor, the state space of a particle on a circle. By interpreting rotor wavefunctions as periodically identified wavefunctions of a harmonic oscillator, we determine the group of bosonic Gaussian operations inherited by the rotor. This $n$-rotor Clifford group, $\text{U}(1)^{n(n+1)/2} \rtimes \text{GL}_n(\mathbb{Z})$, is represented by continuous $\text{U}(1)$ gates generated by polynomials quadratic in angular momenta, as well as discrete $\text{GL}_n(\mathbb Z)$ momentum sign-flip and sum gates. We classify homological rotor error-correcting codes [arXiv:2303.13723] and various rotor states based on equivalence under Clifford operations. Reversing direction, we map homological rotor codes and rotor Clifford operations back into oscillators by interpreting occupation-number states as rotor states of non-negative angular momentum. This yields new multimode homological bosonic codes protecting against dephasing and changes in occupation number, along with their corresponding encoding and decoding circuits. In particular, we show how to non-destructively measure the oscillator phase using conditional occupation-number addition and post selection. We also outline several rotor and oscillator varieties of the GKP-stabilizer codes [arXiv:1903.12615].

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

On stability of k-local quantum phases of matter

The current theoretical framework for topological phases of matter is based on the thermodynamic limit of a system with geometrically local interactions. A natural question is to what extent the notion of a phase of matter remains well-defined if we relax the constraint of geometric locality, and replace it with a weaker graph-theoretic notion of $k$-locality. As a step towards answering this question, we analyze the stability of the energy gap to perturbations for Hamiltonians corresponding to general quantum low-density parity-check codes, extending work of Bravyi and Hastings [Commun. Math. Phys. 307, 609 (2011)]. A corollary of our main result is that if there exist constants $\varepsilon_1,\varepsilon_2>0$ such that the size $Γ(r)$ of balls of radius $r$ on the interaction graph satisfy $Γ(r) = O(\exp(r^{1-\varepsilon_1}))$ and the local ground states of balls of radius $r\leρ^\ast = O(\log(n)^{1+\varepsilon_2})$ are locally indistinguishable, then the energy gap of the associated Hamiltonian is stable against local perturbations. This gives an almost exponential improvement over the $D$-dimensional Euclidean case, which requires $Γ(r) = O(r^D)$ and $ρ^\ast = O(n^α)$ for some $α> 0$. The approach we follow falls just short of proving stability of finite-rate qLDPC codes, which have $\varepsilon_1 = 0$; we discuss some strategies to extend the result to these cases. We discuss implications for the third law of thermodynamics, as $k$-local Hamiltonians can have extensive zero-temperature entropy.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Subsystem CSS codes, a tighter stabilizer-to-CSS mapping, and Goursat's Lemma

The CSS code construction is a powerful framework used to express features of a quantum code in terms of a pair of underlying classical codes. Its subsystem extension allows for similar expressions, but the general case has not been fully explored. Extending previous work of Aly, Klappenecker, and Sarvepalli [quantph/0610153], we determine subsystem CSS code parameters, express codewords, and develop a Steane-type decoder using only data from the two underlying classical codes. Generalizing a result of Kovalev and Pryadko [Phys. Rev. A 88 012311 (2013)], we show that any subsystem stabilizer code can be "doubled" to yield a subsystem CSS code with twice the number of physical, logical, and gauge qudits and up to twice the code distance. This mapping preserves locality and is tighter than the Majorana-based mapping of Bravyi, Terhal, and Leemhuis [New J. Phys. 12 083039 (2010)]. Using Goursat's Lemma, we show that every subsystem stabilizer code can be constructed from two nested subsystem CSS codes satisfying certain constraints, and we characterize subsystem stabilizer codes based on the nested codes' properties.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Continuous-variable quantum state designs: theory and applications

We generalize the notion of quantum state designs to infinite-dimensional spaces. We first prove that, under the definition of continuous-variable (CV) state $t$-designs from Comm. Math. Phys. 326, 755 (2014), no state designs exist for $t\geq2$. Similarly, we prove that no CV unitary $t$-designs exist for $t\geq 2$. We propose an alternative definition for CV state designs, which we call rigged $t$-designs, and provide explicit constructions for $t=2$. As an application of rigged designs, we develop a design-based shadow-tomography protocol for CV states. Using energy-constrained versions of rigged designs, we define an average fidelity for CV quantum channels and relate this fidelity to the CV entanglement fidelity. As an additional result of independent interest, we establish a connection between torus $2$-designs and complete sets of mutually unbiased bases.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Æ codes

Diatomic molecular codes [arXiv:1911.00099] are designed to encode quantum information in the orientation of a diatomic molecule, allowing error correction from small torques and changes in angular momentum. Here, we directly study noise native to atomic and molecular platforms -- spontaneous emission, stray electromagnetic fields, and Raman scattering -- and show that diatomic molecular codes fail against this noise. We derive simple necessary and sufficient conditions for codes to protect against such noise. We also identify existing and develop new absorption-emission (Æ) codes that are more practical than molecular codes, require lower average momentum, can directly protect against photonic processes up to arbitrary order, and are applicable to a broader set of atomic and molecular systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Time-energy uncertainty relation for noisy quantum metrology

Detection of weak forces and precise measurement of time are two of the many applications of quantum metrology to science and technology. We consider a quantum system initialized in a pure state and whose evolution is governed by a Hamiltonian $H$; a measurement can later estimate the time $t$ for which the system has evolved. In this work, we introduce and study a fundamental trade-off which relates the amount by which noise reduces the accuracy of a quantum clock to the amount of information about the energy of the clock that leaks to the environment. Specifically, we consider an idealized scenario in which Alice prepares an initial pure state of the clock, allows the clock to evolve for a time $t$ that is not precisely known, and then transmits the clock through a noisy channel to Bob. The environment (Eve) receives any information that is lost. We prove that Bob's loss of quantum Fisher information (QFI) about $t$ is equal to Eve's gain of QFI about a complementary energy parameter. We also prove a more general trade-off that applies when Bob and Eve wish to estimate the values of parameters associated with two noncommuting observables. We derive the necessary and sufficient conditions for the accuracy of the clock to be unaffected by the noise. These are a subset of the Knill-Laflamme error-correction conditions; states satisfying these conditions are said to form a metrological code. We provide a scheme to construct metrological codes in the stabilizer formalism. We show that there are metrological codes that cannot be written as a quantum error-correcting code with similar distance in which the Hamiltonian acts as a logical operator, potentially offering new schemes for constructing states that do not lose any sensitivity upon application of a noisy channel. We discuss applications of our results to sensing using a many-body state subject to erasure or amplitude-damping noise.

quant-ph↗