An application of Khovanov homology to quantum codes (Q407408)

The main theorem of this paper associates a CSS code to any chain complex containing a length 3 subcomplex \( C^{i-1} \rightarrow C^i \rightarrow C^{i+1}\) with a basis \( \mathfrak{B}\). The CSS code \(C_C\) has parameters \( [ n,k,d ]\) where \(n = \dim(C^i), k = \dim(H^i (C)) \) and \( d = \min \{ | x |_{ \mathfrak{B}} | [x] \in H^i (C) \cup H_i (C), [x] \neq 0 \} \) where \( | \bullet |_{ \mathfrak{B}} \) denotes the \( \mathfrak{B}\)-weight; the number of non trivial coordinates in the basis \( \mathfrak{B}\). This theorem allows the author to connect quantum codes with Khovanov homology. The introduction of the paper gives a brief history of low density parity check (LDPC) codes and quantum LDPC check codes. In particular, none of the known quantum LDPC codes has a minimum distance \(d\) that grows faster than \(n^{ \alpha}\) for any \( \alpha > \frac{1}{2}\). This motivates the need for additional construction of quantum LDPC codes.NEWLINENEWLINEThe first section of the paper quickly reviews of qubits and quantum codes as well as homology and cohomology. Recall that an \(n\)-qubit, the possible alterations are determined by the Pauli group. Note that the dimension of a quantum code is determined by the number of qubits. The author is specifically interested in CSS codes, \([ n,k,d] \)-codes that are defined by two matrices: \(\boldsymbol{H}_X \) and \( \boldsymbol{H}_Z\) such that \(\boldsymbol{H}_X \boldsymbol{H}_Z ^t =0 \) where \(X\) and \(Z\) reference elements in the Pauli group. Then \(k = n - \mathrm{rk}( \boldsymbol{H}_X) - \mathrm{rk}( \boldsymbol{H}_Z )\). The variable \(d\) is the minimum weight of a non-detectable error. In the remainder of the first section, the author quickly reviews some important theorems about chain complexes from homology and cohomology. The section concludes with the key theorem above.NEWLINENEWLINEThe second section introduces link diagrams and Khovanov homology. Here, the author defines the weight of representatives for non-zero elements of the Khovanov homology. The main result in this section is the following proposition: Let \(C_1\) and \(C_2\) e two chain complexes If a chain map (which possibly shifts the homological grading) \( \psi : C_1 ^i \rightarrow C_2 ^j \), with \(i,j \in \mathbb{N}\), induces an injective map in homology then \(k d^i_{C_1} \geq d^j _{C_2} \) where \(k = \max \{ | \psi (x) | | x \text{ is a generator of } C^i_1 \} \). Moreover, if \(k=1\) if the map \( \psi\) is also injective and if a minimally weighted homology-surviving element of \(C^j_2 \) is in the image of \( \psi \), then the inequality becomes an equality. The corollary to this theorem relates weights and the Reidemeister moves.NEWLINENEWLINEIn the final sections, the author applies these results to unknots, unlinks, and torus knots. Codes are constructed for each class of links and the author computes the length, dimension, and minimum distance in each case.