MerLean-example

9 Def 6: Subsystem CSS Code

Definition 63 Boundaries in Cycles
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Let \(Q\) be a CSS code with parity check matrices \(H_X\) and \(H_Z^T\). The submodule of boundaries inside cycles is

\[ \operatorname {im}(H_Z^T) \cap \ker (H_X), \]

viewed as a submodule of \(\ker (H_X)\) via the comap of the subtype inclusion. Formally, it is the \(\mathbb {F}_2\)-submodule

\[ (\operatorname {im}(H_Z^T)).\operatorname {comap}(\ker (H_X).\operatorname {subtype}) \; \subseteq \; \ker (H_X). \]
Definition 64 Homology Type \(H_0\)
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The homology type of a CSS code \(Q\) is the quotient \(\mathbb {F}_2\)-vector space

\[ H_0 \; =\; \ker (H_X) \, /\, \operatorname {im}(H_Z^T), \]

i.e., the quotient of \(\ker (H_X)\) by the submodule of boundaries in cycles.

Definition 65 Coboundaries in Cocycles
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The submodule of coboundaries inside cocycles is

\[ \operatorname {im}(H_X^T) \cap \ker (H_Z), \]

where \(H_Z = (H_Z^T)^T = \operatorname {dualMap}(H_Z^T)\) and \(H_X^T = \operatorname {dualMap}(H_X)\), viewed as a submodule of \(\ker (H_Z)\). Formally, it is

\[ (\operatorname {im}(\operatorname {dualMap}(H_X))).\operatorname {comap}(\ker (\operatorname {dualMap}(H_Z^T)).\operatorname {subtype}). \]
Definition 66 Cohomology Type \(H^0\)
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The cohomology type of a CSS code \(Q\) is the quotient \(\mathbb {F}_2\)-vector space

\[ H^0 \; =\; \ker (H_Z) \, /\, \operatorname {im}(H_X^T), \]

i.e., the quotient of \(\ker (\operatorname {dualMap}(H_Z^T))\) by the submodule of coboundaries in cocycles.

Definition 67 Homology Quotient Map
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The homology quotient map is the canonical \(\mathbb {F}_2\)-linear surjection

\[ \pi _H \; :\; \ker (H_X) \; \longrightarrow \; H_0, \]

defined as the module quotient map \(\operatorname {mkQ}\) for the submodule of boundaries in cycles.

Definition 68 Cohomology Quotient Map
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The cohomology quotient map is the canonical \(\mathbb {F}_2\)-linear surjection

\[ \pi _{H^0} \; :\; \ker (H_Z) \; \longrightarrow \; H^0, \]

defined as the module quotient map \(\operatorname {mkQ}\) for the submodule of coboundaries in cocycles.

Definition 69 Subsystem CSS Code
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A subsystem CSS code with parameters \(n, r_X, r_Z \in \mathbb {N}\) is a CSS code \(Q\) (Definition 50) together with the following data:

  • A logical subspace \(H_0^L \subseteq H_0\): an \(\mathbb {F}_2\)-submodule of the homology \(H_0 = \ker (H_X)/\operatorname {im}(H_Z^T)\).

  • A gauge subspace \(H_0^G \subseteq H_0\): an \(\mathbb {F}_2\)-submodule of the homology.

  • A direct sum decomposition \(H_0 = H_0^L \oplus H_0^G\): the pair \((H_0^L, H_0^G)\) satisfies \(\operatorname {IsCompl}(H_0^L, H_0^G)\), meaning \(H_0^L \cap H_0^G = 0\) and \(H_0^L + H_0^G = H_0\).

  • A linear equivalence \(\phi : H_0 \xrightarrow {\; \sim \; } H^0\) between the homology and cohomology, encoding the nondegenerate pairing. The cohomology splitting is induced by \(\phi \): \(H^0_L = \phi (H_0^L)\) and \(H^0_G = \phi (H_0^G)\), ensuring that \(H_0^L\) pairs nondegenerately with \(H^0_L\), \(H_0^G\) pairs nondegenerately with \(H^0_G\), and the cross-pairings vanish.

Definition 70 Logical Cohomology Subspace
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Let \(S\) be a subsystem CSS code with equivalence \(\phi : H_0 \xrightarrow {\; \sim \; } H^0\). The logical cohomology subspace is

\[ H^0_L \; :=\; \phi (H_0^L) \; =\; \operatorname {Submodule.map}(\phi , H_0^L) \; \subseteq \; H^0. \]
Definition 71 Gauge Cohomology Subspace
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Let \(S\) be a subsystem CSS code with equivalence \(\phi : H_0 \xrightarrow {\; \sim \; } H^0\). The gauge cohomology subspace is

\[ H^0_G \; :=\; \phi (H_0^G) \; =\; \operatorname {Submodule.map}(\phi , H_0^G) \; \subseteq \; H^0. \]
Theorem 72 Cohomology Direct Sum Decomposition

Let \(S\) be a subsystem CSS code. The cohomology splitting \(H^0 = H^0_L \oplus H^0_G\) holds, i.e., \(\operatorname {IsCompl}(H^0_L, H^0_G)\).

Proof

We prove both conditions of \(\operatorname {IsCompl}(H^0_L, H^0_G)\) separately.

Disjointness (\(H^0_L \cap H^0_G = 0\)): We use the definition of \(\operatorname {Submodule.disjoint_def}\). Let \(x \in H^0_L \cap H^0_G\). Since \(x \in H^0_L = \phi (H_0^L)\), there exists \(a \in H_0^L\) with \(\phi (a) = x\). Since \(x \in H^0_G = \phi (H_0^G)\), there exists \(b \in H_0^G\) with \(\phi (b) = x\). By injectivity of \(\phi \), we have \(a = b\). Therefore \(a \in H_0^L \cap H_0^G\). Since \(H_0 = H_0^L \oplus H_0^G\) (i.e., \(\operatorname {IsCompl}(H_0^L, H_0^G)\)), we have \(H_0^L \cap H_0^G = 0\), so \(a = 0\). Hence \(x = \phi (a) = \phi (0) = 0\) by the linear map property, and \(x = 0\) follows by simplification.

Codisjointness (\(H^0_L + H^0_G = H^0\)): Unfolding \(H^0_L = \phi (H_0^L)\) and \(H^0_G = \phi (H_0^G)\), we rewrite using codisjointness and compute

\[ H^0_L + H^0_G = \phi (H_0^L) + \phi (H_0^G) = \phi (H_0^L + H_0^G). \]

Since \(H_0 = H_0^L \oplus H_0^G\), we have \(H_0^L + H_0^G = H_0\) (i.e., \(\operatorname {sup_eq_top}\)). Therefore \(\phi (H_0) = \operatorname {Submodule.map_top}(\phi )\). By surjectivity of \(\phi \), \(\operatorname {LinearMap.range_eq_top}\) gives \(\operatorname {range}(\phi ) = H^0\), so \(H^0_L + H^0_G = H^0\).

Definition 73 Logical Projection
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The logical projection is the \(\mathbb {F}_2\)-linear map

\[ \pi _L \; :\; H_0 \; \longrightarrow \; H_0^L, \]

defined as the linear projection onto \(H_0^L\) along \(H_0^G\), using the direct sum decomposition \(H_0 = H_0^L \oplus H_0^G\) (via \(\operatorname {Submodule.linearProjOfIsCompl}\)).

Definition 74 Logical Cohomology Projection

The logical cohomology projection is the \(\mathbb {F}_2\)-linear map

\[ \pi _{L}^* \; :\; H^0 \; \longrightarrow \; H^0_L, \]

defined as the linear projection onto \(H^0_L\) along \(H^0_G\), using the induced cohomology direct sum decomposition \(H^0 = H^0_L \oplus H^0_G\) (via \(\operatorname {Submodule.linearProjOfIsCompl}\) and \(\operatorname {cohcompl}\)).

Definition 75 Number of Logical Qubits
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The number of logical qubits of a subsystem CSS code \(S\) is

\[ k \; :=\; \dim _{\mathbb {F}_2}(H_0^L), \]

i.e., the \(\mathbb {F}_2\)-dimension (finrank) of the logical subspace \(H_0^L\). In a subsystem code, only \(H_0^L\) encodes logical information, while \(H_0^G\) corresponds to gauge degrees of freedom.

Definition 76 Z-Distance

The Z-distance \(d_Z\) of a subsystem CSS code \(S\) is the minimum Hamming weight of a representative \(z \in \ker (H_X)\) of a homology class \([z] \in H_0\) whose projection onto the logical subspace is nonzero:

\[ d_Z \; :=\; \inf \bigl\{ \, \operatorname {wt}(z) \; \bigm |\; z \in \ker (H_X),\; \pi _L([z]) \neq 0 \, \bigr\} , \]

where \(\operatorname {wt}(z) = \operatorname {hammingWeight}(z)\) denotes the Hamming weight of \(z \in \mathbb {F}_2^n\), \([z] = \pi _H(z)\) is the image under the homology quotient map, and \(\pi _L : H_0 \to H_0^L\) is the logical projection. By convention, \(d_Z = 0\) when no such class exists (i.e., \(H_0^L = 0\)).

Definition 77 X-Distance

The X-distance \(d_X\) of a subsystem CSS code \(S\) is the minimum Hamming weight (under the identification \(\operatorname {dotProductEquiv} : (\mathbb {F}_2^n)^* \cong \mathbb {F}_2^n\)) of a representative \(\zeta \in \ker (H_Z)\) of a cohomology class \([\zeta ] \in H^0\) whose projection onto \(H^0_L\) is nonzero:

\[ d_X \; :=\; \inf \bigl\{ \, \operatorname {wt}(\phi ^{-1}(\zeta )) \; \bigm |\; \zeta \in \ker (H_Z),\; \pi _L^*([\zeta ]) \neq 0 \, \bigr\} , \]

where \(\phi : \mathbb {F}_2^n \xrightarrow {\; \sim \; } (\mathbb {F}_2^n)^*\) is the dot-product equivalence, \([\zeta ] = \pi _{H^0}(\zeta )\) is the image under the cohomology quotient map, and \(\pi _L^* : H^0 \to H^0_L\) is the logical cohomology projection. By convention, \(d_X = 0\) when \(H^0_L = 0\).

Definition 78 Distance
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The distance of a subsystem CSS code \(S\) is

\[ d \; :=\; \min (d_X,\, d_Z). \]
Definition 79 \([\! [n,k,d]\! ]\)-Code Predicate
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A subsystem CSS code \(S\) is an \([\! [n,k,d]\! ]\)-code (written \(\operatorname {IsNKDCode}(k, d)\)) if

\[ \dim _{\mathbb {F}_2}(H_0^L) = k \quad \text{and} \quad d_S = d, \]

i.e., it encodes \(k\) logical qubits with overall distance \(d\).

Definition 80 \([\! [n,k,d_X,d_Z]\! ]\)-Code Predicate

A subsystem CSS code \(S\) is an \([\! [n,k,d_X,d_Z]\! ]\)-code (written \(\operatorname {IsNKDXZCode}(k, d_X, d_Z)\)) if

\[ \dim _{\mathbb {F}_2}(H_0^L) = k, \quad d_X^S = d_X, \quad \text{and} \quad d_Z^S = d_Z, \]

i.e., it encodes \(k\) logical qubits with X-distance \(d_X\) and Z-distance \(d_Z\) separately specified.