On metaplectic modular categories and their applications (Q2509618)

Unitary modular tensor categories are generalizations of the representation categories of quantum groups at a particular root of unity. These algebraic structures appear in a variety of fields, in particular in the study of topological quantum field theories, axiomatizing the properties necessary to produce 3-dimensional TQFTs. The authors of the paper under review focus on the B-series at level two \(\mathrm{SO}(m)_2\) for an odd integer \(m > 2\). In this paper any unitary modular tensor category with the same fusion rules of \(\mathrm{SO}(m)_2\) for some odd integer \(m > 2\), is called a metaplectic modular category. The reason for their interest in metaplectic modular categories mainly comes from their potential realization in condensed matter systems. In this regard, the paper under review studies problems inspired by the applications of metaplectic modular categories to quantum computing, in particular, analyzing their potential for topological quantum computing. In this paper from the analysis of the braid group representations associated to the quantum dimension 2 simple objects, it follows that while their braid group representations have finite images and are efficiently simulable (classically after a generalized localization), their link invariants are \#P-hard to evaluate exactly.