Decoding Quantum Error Correction Codes With Local Variation

Michael Hanks, William J. Munro, Kae Nemoto
2020 IEEE Transactions on Quantum Engineering  
In this article, we investigate the role of local information in the decoding of the repetition and surface error correction codes for the protection of quantum states. Our key result is an improvement in resource efficiency when local information is taken into account during the decoding process: the code distance associated with a given logical error rate is reduced with a magnitude depending on the proximity of the physical error rate to the accuracy threshold of the code. We also briefly
more » ... cuss an averaged approach with local information for table lookup and localized decoding schemes, an expected breakdown of these effects for large-scale systems, and the importance of this resource reduction in the near term. INDEX TERMS Decoding, quantum error correction.
doi:10.1109/tqe.2020.2967890 fatcat:vgmerh7yerbbbadsv7ou5mn2gi