Toric-boson model: Toward a topological quantum memory at finite temperature
Name
Hamma-2009-Toric-boson model_ T.pdf
Size
143.48 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
89db31eba8655344db1e77081fa0da84
Author(s)
Hamma, Alioscia
Castelnovo, Claudio
Chamon, Claudio
Date Issued
June 2009
Journal
Physical Review B
Publisher
American Physical Society
Citation
Hamma, Alioscia , Claudio Castelnovo, and Claudio Chamon. “Toric-boson model: Toward a topological quantum memory at finite temperature.” Physical Review B 79.24 (2009): 245122. © 2009 The American Physical Society.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We discuss the existence of stable topological quantum memory at finite temperature. At stake here is the fundamental question of whether it is, in principle, possible to store quantum information for macroscopic times without the intervention from the external world, that is, without error correction. We study the toric code in two dimensions with an additional bosonic field that couples to the defects, in the presence of a generic environment at finite temperature: the toric-boson model. Although the coupling constants for the bare model are not finite in the thermodynamic limit, the model has a finite spectrum. We show that in the topological phase, there is a finite temperature below which open strings are confined and therefore the lifetime of the memory can be made arbitrarily (polynomially) long in system size. The interaction with the bosonic field yields a long-range attractive force between the end points of open strings but leaves closed strings and topological order intact.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of Electronics
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.79.245122
