Hypermap-Homology Quantum Codes (Ph.D. thesis)

We introduce a new type of sparse CSS quantum error correcting code based on the homology of hypermaps. Sparse quantum error correcting codes are of interest in the building of quantum computers due to their ease of implementation and the possibility of developing fast decoders for them. Codes based on the homology of embeddings of graphs, such as Kitaev's toric code, have been discussed widely in the literature and our class of codes generalize these. We use embedded hypergraphs, which are a generalization of graphs that can have edges connected to more than two vertices. We develop theorems and examples of our hypermap-homology codes, especially in the case that we choose a special type of basis in our homology chain complex. In particular the most straightforward generalization of the $m \times m$ toric code to hypermap-homology codes gives us a $\[(3/2)m^2,2,m\]$ code as compared to the toric code which is a $\[2m^2,2,m\]$ code. Thus we can protect the same amount of quantum information, with the same error-correcting capability, using less physical qubits.