“Robust many-body phases from quantum error correction”
Quantum error correcting codes are an important part of quantum computing, enabling arbitrarily accurate computations despite faulty individual components. They also have deep ties to other areas of physics. Quantum error correction is a non-equilibrium dynamical process that can be described with equilibrium statistical mechanics, and questions that appear naturally in error correction give rise to interesting new features of the statistical mechanics models. I will discuss correlated noise rates in error correcting codes causing unusual Griffiths phases, as well as new geometries and generalized notions of locality in codes leading to unconventional statistical mechanics models and order parameters. Error correction is also closely tied to quantum phases of matter, and I will discuss a recent collaboration proving stability of quantum phases arising from a very broad class of error correcting codes.
Host: Meng Cheng