Advanced Quantum

Information & Computation/SV HW 4: Surface and toric codes PH601, March 10, 2025

1: Code construction from stabilisers

1. Consider a quantum code defined by the following independent stabilizer generators:

Z1 Z2 Z3 Z4 (1)
X1 X2 X3 X4 (2)

(a) How many logical qubits are encoded by this code?

(b) Determine a set of logical encoded Pauli operators Z and X for each encoded qubit. (Note: The
solution is not unique; however, the conventional approach is to choose logical Z operators that are
constructed from physical Z operators and logical X operators that are built from physical X
operators.)
(c) What is the distance of the code you have obtained, and how many single-qubit errors can it detect
and correct?
2. Consider the following set of stabilisers,

S ≡ {X1 X2 X3 X4 , Z1 Z3 , Z2 Z4 } (3)

(a) Verify that the three operators commute with each other.
(b) What is the dimension of the logical space VS stabilised by them? What are the basis elements?
Express them in terms of physical qubit basis elements.

2: Fault Tolerance in the Surface Code

3. We consider the surface code. We will illustrate the concept of fault tolerance by studying the scaling of
false detection of X errors with increasing sizes of the code.
(a) Consider a single row of the code of length d = 5 (number of white physical qubits).

Figure 1: Sufrace code

• Describe the state of the system after initialization.

• Describe the state after one bit flip error Xi (with i ∈ {1, . . . , 5}).
(b) Suppose the error syndrome step gives

−1, 1, −1, 1. (4)

• Give a possible error assignment with two errors.

• Give a possible error assignment with three errors.
(c) Assume a physical qubit error occurs with probability p after one circuit operation. A logical
operation is considered to involve on average 8 circuit operations. What is the probability of a
physical qubit error after one logical operation?
(d) For an arbitrary value of odd d, the most likely undetected errors correspond to an error of
de = d+1
2 qubits (wrongly attributed to the complementary error assignment with d − de = d−1
2 ).
What is the probability pL for such a logical error as a function of p and d, after one logical
operation?

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Advanced Quantum
Information & Computation/SV HW 4: Surface and toric codes PH601, March 10, 2025

Figure 2: Toric code model defined on a square lattice

(e) Adapt the expression of the logical error probability for a 2D surface code. Plot pL as a function of p
and d. Comment on this result in relation to the notion of fault tolerance.

3: Propagation of errors

4. Show that the following circuit may be used for parity check in the Z basis:
In a Z parity check, the ancilla is initialized in |0⟩ and acts as the target of CNOTs, with each data qubit
acting as control.

|0⟩

|ψ1 ⟩
|ψ2 ⟩
|ψ3 ⟩
|ψ4 ⟩

5. Show that the following circuit may be used for parity check in the X basis: For an X parity check, the
ancilla is rotated to |+⟩ with a Hadamard gate, acts as the control for the CNOTs, and is rotated back
with another Hadamard before measurement.

|0⟩ H H

|ψ1 ⟩

|ψ2 ⟩

|ψ3 ⟩

|ψ4 ⟩

4: Toric code

The toric code is a paradigmatic model in quantum error correction and topological quantum computing. It
exhibits rich features such as anyonic excitations and topologically protected degenerate ground states.

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Advanced Quantum
Information & Computation/SV HW 4: Surface and toric codes PH601, March 10, 2025

6. Consider the toric code Hamiltonian for the lattice shown in figure (2):
X X
HTC = −J As − J Bp , J > 0, (5)
s p

where
Y Y
As = σxj and Bp = σzj . (6)
j∈P j∈S

Show that applying a single σz operator on an edge creates a pair of e excitations (vertex violations), and
that applying a single σx operator creates a pair of m excitations (plaquette violations).
P P
Hint: Use the property that there are exactly two terms in s As or p Bp with which a given σx or σz
anticommutes respectively.
7. The loop operators Ze (γ) (or Xm (γ ′ )) are defined by taking the product of σ z (or σ x ) operators along a
closed path γ (or γ ′ ) on the lattice. That is,
Y Y
Ze (γ) = σjz , Xm (γ ′ ) = σjx . (7)
j∈γ j∈γ ′

Demonstrate that the loop operators Xm and Ze generate non-contractible loops on the torus by
producing horizontal and vertical loops, respectively.

8. Show that joining two loops creates a bigger loop. Prove that the loop operators Xm and Ze commute
with the toric code Hamiltonian, i.e.,

[Xm , HTC ] = 0 and [Ze , HTC ] = 0. (8)

9. Prove that the ground state of the toric code on a torus is degenerate and determine its degeneracy.
Hint: Use the Hamiltonian (5) and the fact that in the ground state the stabilizer conditions As |ψ⟩ = |ψ⟩
and Bp |ψ⟩ = |ψ⟩ hold. Then, apply the topological properties of the torus (specifically, the existence of
non-contractible loops) to show that the ground state degeneracy is 4. In particular, degeneracy of
topological ground state follows from our code space calculations of dimension of Hilbert space, which, in
turn, depends on the number of stabilisers. As and Bp are stabilisers, but they are NOT all independent.
Explain how this fact correctly predicts the codespace dimensions.

10. Show that in the toric code, every local error (e.g., applying a Pauli operator σ x or σ z on a single qubit)
produces exactly two excitations.
Hint: Consider how the application of a Pauli operator on a qubit affects the adjacent star or plaquette
operators. Demonstrate that the eigenvalues of exactly two such stabilizers flip from +1 to −1, creating a
pair of anyonic excitations at their locations.

11. Calculate the energy gap of the toric code Hamiltonian in terms of the coupling constant J.
Hint: Analyze the energy cost of creating a pair of excitations. Use the Hamiltonian structure to compute
the difference between the ground state energy and the energy of the state with two excitations.

12. Identify the logical operators in the toric code and explain how they correspond to non-contractible loops
on the torus. Discuss the implications of these logical operators for the code’s ability to correct errors.
Hint: Show that although the logical operators commute with the Hamiltonian, they act non-trivially on
the ground state subspace. This non-trivial action is what protects the encoded quantum information
against local errors.