Sunday 23 February 2025
Researchers have been working on a new way to make quantum computers more practical and efficient. They’ve discovered that certain types of codes, called bivariate bicycle codes, can be transformed into codes that are easier to implement on real hardware.
These codes are promising because they offer high encoding rates and robustness against errors. However, they typically require two-dimensional connectivity, which is difficult to achieve in physical devices. The new approach allows for the creation of codes with similar properties but without this limitation.
The team used a technique called pruning to transform the bivariate bicycle codes into more practical versions. Pruning involves removing certain qubits from the code while maintaining its error-correcting capabilities. This process is always possible when the code is a hypergraph product of two classical cyclic codes.
For other types of bivariate bicycle codes, the team was able to demonstrate that pruning is also possible by constructing explicit examples. They showed that these pruned codes can be used for fault-tolerant quantum computation and even support fold-transversal gates, which are proposals for implementing certain Clifford gates.
One of the most interesting aspects of this research is its potential impact on the development of practical quantum computers. By transforming bivariate bicycle codes into more practical versions, researchers may be able to create codes that can be implemented on near-term hardware with minimal modifications.
The work also raises questions about the possibility of pruning other types of codes and whether structural insights from the original code carry over to the pruned version. Additionally, the authors suggest that their approach could be used to implement measurements of Pauli operators on hypergraph product codes, which would have significant implications for quantum computing.
Overall, this research represents an important step towards making quantum computers more practical and efficient. By transforming bivariate bicycle codes into more accessible versions, researchers may be able to overcome some of the major hurdles facing the development of large-scale quantum computers.
Cite this article: “Pruning Bivariate Bicycle Codes for More Efficient Quantum Computing”, The Science Archive, 2025.
Quantum Computers, Bivariate Bicycle Codes, Pruning, Qubits, Error-Correcting, Hypergraph Product, Classical Cyclic Codes, Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computation, Clifford Gates, Quantum Computing
