Logical Operators and Derived Automorphisms of Tile Codes

TL;DR

This paper characterizes the logical operators of tile codes, introduces algebraic frameworks and derived automorphisms, and demonstrates their potential for fault-tolerant quantum computation.

Contribution

It provides a natural description of logical operators, develops algebraic models, and introduces derived automorphisms for tile codes, advancing their theoretical understanding and practical utility.

Findings

Logical operators form a canonical symplectic basis.

Efficient generation of logical operators via cellular automaton.

Derived automorphisms enable fault-tolerant logical operations.

Abstract

The recently introduced tile codes are a promising alternative to surface codes, combining two-dimensional locality with higher encoding efficiency. While surface codes are well understood in terms of their logical operators and boundary behavior, much less is known about tile codes. In this work, we establish a natural and precise description of their logical operator space. We prove that, under mild assumptions, any tile code admits a canonical symplectic basis of logical operators supported along lattice boundaries, which can be generated efficiently by a simple cellular automaton with the number of update rules only depending on the non-locality of the tile code. Further, we develop algebraic and algebro-geometric frameworks for tile codes, by resolving them by translationally invariant Pauli stabilizer models and showing that they arise as derived sections of a Koszul complex on $\mathbb{P}^1 \times \mathbb{P}^1$. Finally, we introduce the concept of derived automorphisms for quantum codes. These are automorphism-like operations that can exist even for codes that do not have symmetries. We explain how derived automorphisms can be implemented for tile codes in a low-overhead and fault-tolerant manner by extending the lattice on one side and shrinking it on the other. While this operation is trivial for the surface code, it induces a product of logical CNOT gates on the encoded information. Our results provide new structural insights into tile codes and lay the groundwork for tile codes as building blocks for fault-tolerant quantum computation.