Robustness of cluster states and surface code states against random local fields

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how random local fields impact the fidelity of cluster and surface code states in quantum computing, revealing thresholds for fluctuations and limits on qubit numbers for effective error correction.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical comparison of the effects of local field fluctuations on cluster and surface code states, identifying critical fluctuation thresholds and qubit number limits.

Findings

Fidelity degrades similarly for both states up to ten qubits.

Fluctuations below 10% of the energy gap $$ are manageable.

Maximum correctable qubits are less than 31 for surface codes and 27 for cluster states.

Abstract

In ideal quantum circuits, qubits are tacitly assumed to be uniformly fabricated and operated by prescribed signals. In reality, however, we must cope with different control signals to adjust individual qubits, which requires a large overhead of control circuits. Here, we theoretically investigate how random local fields affect cluster states and surface code states which constitute the key highly entangled states in quantum computation. We find similar behavior of temporal degradation of the fidelity for both cluster states and surface code states for the number of qubits up to ten. We find that the effect of local field fluctuations is greatly mitigated if the magnitude of fluctuations can be suppressed below 10 % of the energy gap $\Delta$ for both cluster states and surface code states. If the magnitude of fluctuations exceeds $\Delta/2$, the fidelity for both states deteriorates dramatically. A simple estimation based on the average fidelity up to $t\sim 2\hbar/\Delta$ shows that the maximum number of qubits that can be corrected with the 1 % error threshold is less than 31 for surface code states and 27 for cluster states. This means that the error correction should be carried out during a time shorter than $2\hbar/\Delta$.