Stabilizer code ($\mathcal{C}=\{|\psi ⟩:g_j|\psi ⟩=|\psi ⟩\forall j\}$)

A stabilizer code is the common $+1$ eigenspace of a stabilizer group $S$, an abelian subgroup of the Pauli group excluding $-I$. Choose $r$ independent stabilizer generators $g_1,\dots ,g_r$ on $n$ physical qubits. They are commuting Hermitian operators, each squaring to $I$. The stabilizer subspace and its orthogonal projector areThe stabilizer-projector formula gives $\dim \mathcal{C}=2^{n-r}$, so $k=n-r$ logical qubits remain. Independent here means that no nonempty product of the chosen stabilizer generators is $I$. Excluding $-I$ is necessary: a vector cannot simultaneously be fixed by $I$ and $-I$ unless it is zero.

For the three-qubit bit-flip repetition code, take $g_1=Z_1{Z}_2$ and $g_2=Z_2{Z}_3$, with $Z_j$ the Pauli Z gate on site $j$ and identities elsewhere. The stabilizer group is $S=\{I,Z_1{Z}_2,Z_2{Z}_3,Z_1{Z}_3\}$. Both stabilizer generators have eigenvalue $+1$ exactly on the span of $|000⟩$ and $|111⟩$, giving $2^{3-2}=2$ dimensions for one logical qubit. A projective measurement of these checks distinguishes four orthogonal two-dimensional sectors rather than eight individual computational basis states.

A Pauli error that anticommutes with a stabilizer generator changes that check's sign, producing an error syndrome. A Pauli operator commuting with every check can still act on the logical qubits; the centralizer of a stabilizer group describes these possibilities. Thus the number of checks determines the encoded dimension, while the quantum code distance determines protection against arbitrary local errors. The five-qubit error correcting code, for instance, has four stabilizer generators and quantum code distance three; the three-qubit bit-flip repetition code has two checks but quantum code distance one because a single phase flip is unflagged. ^[ref].

A stabilizer group with $r$ independent generators maps injectively to an r-dimensional isotropic subspace of the binary symplectic space of Pauli labels. For generator rows $(A\mid B)$, commutation is $A{B}^T+B{A}^T=0$ over ${\mathbb{F}}_2$. Its stabilizer subspace has dimension $2^{n-r}$. The labels of the centralizer of a stabilizer group form $L^{\perp }$; labels in $L^{\perp }\setminus L$ act as nontrivial logical Pauli operators.

For binary linear codes $C_2\subseteq C_1\subseteq {\mathbb{F}}_2^N$, the CSS code has basis $|x+C_2⟩=|C_2{|}^{-1/2}{\sum }_{y\in C_2}|x+y⟩$ for $x\in C_1/C_2$. Its X stabilizers come from $C_2$ and its Z stabilizers from the dual code $C_1^{\perp }$; their commutation follows from orthogonality. For positive logical dimension, $d_X=\min \{\mathrm{wt}(x):x\in C_1\setminus C_2\}$ and $d_Z=\min \{\mathrm{wt}(z):z\in C_2^{\perp }\setminus C_1^{\perp }\}$, with quantum code distance $d=\min (d_X,d_Z)$. Thus arbitrary errors on at most $\lfloor (d-1)/2\rfloor$ qubits are correctable. Stabilizer errors are harmless even if their weight is small; the distances exclude them.

For binary linear codes $C\subseteq C^{\prime }$, the coset superpositions of the CSS code have $X$ checks labelled by $C$ and $Z$ checks by $(C^{\prime }{)}^{\perp }$. A bit-error pattern $a$ gives the classical syndrome for $C^{\prime }$, and a phase-error pattern $b$ gives the syndrome for the dual code $C^{\perp }$. Errors with $2t_X<{\min }_{a\in C^{\prime }\setminus C}\mathrm{wt}(a)$ and $2t_Z<{\min }_{b\in C^{\perp }\setminus (C^{\prime }{)}^{\perp }}\mathrm{wt}(b)$ are jointly correctable. Every pairwise Pauli-error product either anticommutes with a check, giving zero code compression, or its low-weight components belong to the stabilizer and give scalar compression. Thus the Knill--Laflamme condition covers coherent superpositions and quantum channels as well as definite bit and phase errors.

The Pauli centralizer $C(S)$ consists of Pauli operators commuting with every stabilizer. Elements of $C(S)\setminus S$, modulo stabilizers and phases, are the nontrivial logical Pauli operators.

If every pairwise product $E_a^{†}{E}_b$ has weight below the code distance, it cannot be a nontrivial logical operator. The Knill--Laflamme conditions then hold for the whole error set.

Let $S$ exclude $-I$, let $C(S)$ be its Pauli centralizer, and let $\mathcal{Z}=\{\pm I,\pm iI\}$. A set of Pauli errors is jointly correctable exactly when every product $E_a^{†}{E}_b$ belongs to $\mathcal{Z}S$ or lies outside $C(S)$. Outside the centralizer its code compression is zero by anticommutation; in $\mathcal{Z}S$ it acts as a scalar. A centralizing operator outside $\mathcal{Z}S$ has zero trace on the code but is unitary there, so cannot be scalar. This gives precisely the Knill--Laflamme condition. Scalar phases must be retained when formulating the group criterion.

Quasi-adiabatic continuation carries each stabilizer to a quasi-local conserved operator for the perturbed low-energy space. Bare Pauli errors are then only approximately correctable because the dressed operators have exponentially small non-Pauli tails.

The distance is the minimum weight of a Pauli operator that preserves the code space but acts nontrivially on its logical information.

An error syndrome is the list of outcomes obtained by measuring a chosen ordered family of stabilizer generators. Write $s_j=0$ for eigenvalue $+1$ and $s_j=1$ for eigenvalue $-1$. For a definite Pauli error $E$ on a code state, the rule isThe commuting checks admit joint orthogonal projectorsFor density operator $\rho$, the Born rule gives outcome probability $\mathrm{tr}({\Pi }_s\rho )$ and conditional state ${\Pi }_s\rho {\Pi }_s/\mathrm{tr}({\Pi }_s\rho )$ when that probability is nonzero. A definite Pauli error has one deterministic error syndrome independent of the encoded amplitudes. A coherent linear combination of Pauli errors may occupy several sectors, so measuring the error syndrome selects a sector; recovery preserves the logical qubit when the entire error family is jointly correctable. ^[ref].

An error syndrome locates an error only relative to an assumed family and a recovery rule. Two Pauli errors differing by a logical operator can share an error syndrome; see stabilizer-syndrome coset. In the three-qubit bit-flip syndrome table, $X_3$ and $X_1{X}_2$ both give $01$. Recovering with $X_3$ corrects the first but converts the second into the logical operator $X_1{X}_2{X}_3$. Likewise, $Z_1$ has error syndrome $00$ yet changes the encoded relative phase.

Two Pauli errors have the same stabilizer syndrome exactly when their product lies in the centralizer of the stabilizer group. Thus a syndrome identifies a coset $E_{s}C(S)$, while logical operators inside that coset remain indistinguishable.

The $n$-qubit phase-flip repetition code is stabilized by $X_j{X}_{j+1}$ and has codewords $|+{⟩}^{\otimes n}$ and $|-{⟩}^{\otimes n}$. It has logical operators $\overline{Z}=X_1$ and $\overline{X}=Z_1\cdots Z_n$, so its distance against phase flips is $n$.

The codewords $|+++⟩,|---⟩$ have residual logical Pauli X gate after an uncorrectable two- or three-site phase error. Precede their encoding by a logical Hadamard gate and follow decoding by its inverse. Since $HXH=Z$, the same error now acts as a logical Pauli Z gate. Explicitly the encoded coefficients are $(\alpha +\beta )/\sqrt{2}$ and $(\alpha -\beta )/\sqrt{2}$ for an input $\alpha |0⟩+\beta |1⟩$. This convention matters when translating physical phase errors into a claimed decoded phase-error channel.

The phase-flip repetition code with codewords $|+++⟩,|---⟩$ corrects any one physical Pauli Z gate error. Its two adjacent-pair error syndromes cannot distinguish an error pattern from its three-bit complement. Minimum-weight recovery therefore leaves no residual error at weight zero or one, and leaves $Z_1{Z}_2{Z}_3$ at weight two or three. This residual operator exchanges the codewords, so inverse encoding gives a logical Pauli X gate. For independent physical phase errors of probability $ϵ$, the decoded quantum channel is $(1-p_L)\rho +p_{L}X\rho X$, where $p_L=3{ϵ}^2(1-ϵ)+{ϵ}^3$. For $0<ϵ<1/2$, $ϵ-p_L=ϵ(1-ϵ)(1-2ϵ)>0$.

Insert Hadamard gates on every data qubit immediately after encoding by a bit-flip repetition code and immediately before its bit-flip detection and recovery. The intervening physical error is thereby conjugated by $H^{\otimes n}$, and $HZH=X$ turns a single Pauli Z gate error into a single bit flip for the original correction circuit. The encoded logical codewords are now $|+{⟩}^{\otimes n}$ and $|-{⟩}^{\otimes n}$. The syndrome ancillas and the final inverse encoding stay unchanged. This protects against phase flips in the new basis; it does not simultaneously correct arbitrary bit flips in the physical basis.

For independent errors of probability $p<1/2$, maximum-likelihood decoding of a repetition code chooses the lower-weight error compatible with the syndrome. This is majority voting, with threshold $p_c=1/2$ and exponentially vanishing logical-error probability below threshold.

The $m$-qubit bit-flip repetition code stores one logical qubit in $|0_L⟩=|0{⟩}^{\otimes m}$ and $|1_L⟩=|1{⟩}^{\otimes m}$. Its stabilizer generators are $Z_j{Z}_{j+1}$ for $j=1,\dots ,m-1$, and its logical operators are $\overline{X}=X_1\cdots X_m$ and $\overline{Z}=Z_1$. Interchanging the Pauli X gate and Pauli Z gate gives the phase-flip repetition code. For odd $m$, majority-vote decoding of a repetition code corrects up to $(m-1)/2$ physical Pauli X gate errors, assuming ideal operations and a noise family containing only these bit flips.

For $m=3$, prepare two quantum ancillas in $|00⟩$ and apply controlled-NOT gates from the input qubit to each of them. By linearity, encoding sendsThis does not produce $(\alpha |0⟩+\beta |1⟩{)}^{\otimes 3}$, which would contain cross terms. For example, encoding $|+⟩=(|0⟩+|1⟩)/\sqrt{2}$ produces $(|000⟩+|111⟩)/\sqrt{2}$, whereas three independent copies would have eight equal computational basis amplitudes. The encoding creates quantum entanglement when both coefficients are nonzero and respects the no-cloning theorem.

The three-qubit bit-flip syndrome table corrects the family $\{I,X_1,X_2,X_3\}$ and its entire linear span, as specified by the Knill--Laflamme condition. It cannot correct arbitrary errors on one physical qubit: the phase flipcommutes with both checks and acts as logical $\overline{Z}$. In particular, it takes the encoded $|+⟩$ to the orthogonal encoded $|-⟩$ with error syndrome $00$. Thus its full quantum code distance is one, despite correcting one error of the restricted Pauli X gate type. The Shor code, Steane code and five-qubit error correcting code provide protection against arbitrary one-qubit errors.

Measure the commuting stabilizer generators $g_1=Z_1{Z}_2$ and $g_2=Z_2{Z}_3$ in that order. Use error syndrome bit $0$ for eigenvalue $+1$ and bit $1$ for eigenvalue $-1$. For $X_j$ the Pauli X gate on physical qubit $j$, every row holds for arbitrary normalized $\alpha ,\beta$. This ordered parity-check convention follows ^[ref]:

Each pair of computational basis words within a row has the same two parities. Consequently the projective measurement reveals the row without distinguishing its two amplitudes. For example, $|{\psi }_L⟩=(\sqrt{3}/2)|000⟩+(i/2)|111⟩$ becomes $(\sqrt{3}/2)|010⟩+(i/2)|101⟩$ under $X_2$. Both checks give $-1$ with probability one, and applying $X_2$ restores both coefficients exactly, including the relative phase $i$.

One implementation uses two quantum ancillas initialized to $|00⟩$. Two controlled-NOT gates from data qubits 1 and 2 to the first quantum ancilla write their parity; two more from data qubits 2 and 3 to the second quantum ancilla write the other parity. Measuring only the quantum ancillas in the computational basis gives $(s_1,s_2)$. Measuring the individual data qubits instead would reveal the encoded computational basis value and destroy the unknown quantum superposition. The existing coherent syndrome extraction for the three-qubit repetition code uses the alternative ordered checks $(Z_2{Z}_3,Z_1{Z}_3)$, so its bit labels differ from this table.

The recovery also handles coherent errors. Put $E_0=I,E_1=X_1,E_2=X_2,E_3=X_3$. Their images of the code are mutually orthogonal, giving $P{E}_a^{†}{E}_{b}P={\delta }_{ab}P$, the Knill--Laflamme condition for this family. For any linear combination $E={\sum }_{a=0}^3{c}_a{E}_a$, its component in sector $s(E_a)$ is $c_a{E}_a|{\psi }_L⟩$. Measuring that error syndrome has probability $|c_a{|}^2/{\sum }_b|c_b{|}^2$ on the normalized erroneous state, and recovery $E_a$ returns $|{\psi }_L⟩$. More generally one recovery quantum channel corrects every noise quantum channel whose Kraus operators belong to this span. The assumption concerns the whole jointly correctable family; it does not extend to the span of arbitrary single-site Pauli errors. ^[ref].

A fully computed coherent example is the unitary operator $U=\exp (-i\theta X_2)=\cos \theta I-i\sin \theta X_2$. At $\theta =\pi /6$ it givesThe error syndromes $00$ and $11$ occur with probabilities $3/4$ and $1/4$, independently of $\alpha ,\beta$. Doing nothing for $00$ and applying $X_2$ for $11$ restores the same logical qubit in both branches; the scalar $-i$ in the second branch is an irrelevant global phase. This is an example of linearity of coherent quantum error correction, rather than an assumption that the original error was a classical random bit flip.

Assume that each physical qubit undergoes an independent quantum bit-flip channel with probability $p$ during one storage interval, and that encoding, error syndrome extraction, recovery and decoding are all ideal. Use the three-qubit bit-flip syndrome table to apply the indicated minimum-weight recovery. Zero or one bit flips are corrected. Two bit flips have the same error syndrome as the complementary one-site error: for example, $X_1{X}_2$ gives $01$, so recovery $X_3$ leaves $\overline{X}=X_1{X}_2{X}_3$. Three bit flips give $00$ and also leave $\overline{X}$. This exchanges $|000⟩$ and $|111⟩$, and therefore acts as a logical Pauli X gate after decoding.

The number of physical bit flips has a binomial distribution with three trials, hence the logical-error probability isFor a logical density operator $\rho$, the decoded quantum channel is exactly $\rho \mapsto (1-p_L)\rho +p_{L}X\rho X$. Here logical failure means a nontrivial logical Pauli X gate error; a particular input such as $|+⟩$ can be invariant under that error. At $p=0.1$, exactly two flips have probability $3(0.1{)}^2(0.9)=0.027$ and three flips have probability $(0.1{)}^3=0.001$, giving $p_L=0.028$. The block succeeds with probability $0.972$ compared with $0.9$ for an unencoded qubit. At $p=0.01$, $p_L=0.000298$, illustrating the quadratic suppression of rare independent bit flips.

Factoring the improvement givesThus one level reduces logical-error probability for $0<p<1/2$, is equal at $p=0,1/2,1$, and makes it worse for $1/2<p<1$ under this same decoder. The suppression arises because a logical error requires at least two physical bit flips. With independent disjoint inner blocks, the same noise model and ideal correction at every level, a concatenated quantum error-correcting code has $p_{\ell +1}=3p_{\ell }^2-2p_{\ell }^3$, with $p_0=p$. At $p_0=0.1$, two levels use nine data qubits and give $p_2=3(0.028{)}^2-2(0.028{)}^3=0.002308096$.

This calculation describes ideal correction of stored information with the specified quantum bit-flip channel. Repeated correction in time additionally requires a fresh specified noise model for each interval; imperfect quantum gates, faulty measurements and correlated errors change the calculation. The timed bit flip during repetition-code syndrome extraction and exact encoded-state failure with a faulty parity check show concretely why this storage calculation alone is not a fault-tolerance result.

Encode $u|0⟩+v|1⟩$ as $u|000⟩+v|111⟩$. Four controlled-NOT gates copy the displayed two data parities into initially zero quantum ancillas. No logical amplitude is measured. The error syndromes $00,01,10,11$ correspond respectively to no bit flip and bit flips on data qubits $1,2,3$. Conditional Toffoli gates, with temporary Pauli X gates implementing zero-valued controls, undo the indicated error. Inverse encoding yields the original logical state and a separate syndrome state. A phase flip has zero bit-flip syndrome and remains as a logical phase error; this three-qubit code is not a general single-qubit-error code.

Suppose the first ancilla records parity $q_2\oplus q_3$, then a fault of value $f$ flips $q_2$, and the second ancilla records parity $q_1\oplus q_2$. For incoming bit-error pattern $e$, the observed error syndrome is the displayed pair, while the final data error before recovery is $d=e\oplus (0,f,0)$. When $f=1$, the observed syndrome differs from the actual data syndrome by $(1,0)$. Applying the usual minimum-weight recovery leaves a nonzero syndrome, so the state is outside the code space even when the channel itself made no error. This is a timing-dependent failure of this simple extraction circuit, not a general obstruction to fault-tolerant quantum error correction.

For independent channel bit flips of probability $p$ and the specified extraction fault of probability $q$, require recovery of an arbitrary input in the original encoded subspace. Every extraction-fault event leaves nonzero error syndrome; without that fault, channel errors are corrected exactly at weight zero or one. Thus success probability is $(1-q)[(1-p{)}^3+3p(1-p{)}^2]$. Compared with a single unencoded bit-flip channel, strict improvement for $0<p<1/2$ requires $q<p(1-2p)/[(1-p)(1+2p)]$. A different decoder or an added later ideal recovery changes the performance criterion and must be specified separately.

Replacing every qubit of an $n$-qubit phase-flip repetition code by an $m$-qubit bit-flip repetition code gives a code with logical $Z$- and $X$-operator weights $m$ and $n$, respectively, and hence distance $\min (m,n)$.

The nine-qubit Shor code encodes one logical qubit with basis vectors $|0_L⟩=|G_{+}{⟩}^{\otimes 3}$ and $|1_L⟩=|G_{-}{⟩}^{\otimes 3}$, where $|G_{\pm }⟩=(|000⟩\pm |111⟩)/\sqrt{2}$. Six adjacent $Z$-pair stabilizer generators locate a single bit flip within a block, while $X_1\cdots X_6$ and $X_4\cdots X_9$ diagnose which block has had its relative phase changed. Together they correct every single-qubit Pauli operator, hence every single-qubit error by the Pauli expansion of a quantum error.

A Pauli Z gate on qubit four has phase-check eigenvalues $(-1,-1)$ and leaves all six $Z$-pair checks positive. Applying $Z_4$ restores the state. The same phase syndrome arises from $Z_5$ or $Z_6$; these have the same action on the code since their pairwise products are stabilizers. This is a degeneracy, not a failure of correction.

Group the nine physical qubits into three blocks and write $B_r$ for the product of three Pauli X gates in block $r$. The commuting stabilizer generators $B_1{B}_2$ and $B_2{B}_3$ have eigenvalue $+1$ on both logical codewords. A Pauli Z gate in blocks one, two or three gives syndromes $(-,+)$, $(-,-)$ or $(+,-)$ respectively. Apply a Z gate to any one qubit of the indicated block to recover the logical state. Z errors at distinct locations within a block act identically on the code, so this correction is degenerate.

The Steane code is a seven-qubit CSS stabilizer code encoding one logical qubit with distance three.

Write the Steane code basis as uniform quantum superpositions over a binary linear code $D$ and a disjoint coset $t+D$, where $D$ is the even-weight part of the length-seven Hamming code. For $Z(w)={⨂}_{j=1}^7{Z}_j^{w_j}$, diagonal Pauli Z gates cannot connect the two cosets. Within coset $t_a+D$, the overlap isIf $w\notin D^{\perp }$, translation by a word $x_0\in D$ with $w\cdot x_0=1$ negates this sum, so it vanishes. Since the dual code $D^{\perp }$ is the length-seven Hamming code of minimum Hamming distance three, every nonzero $w$ of Hamming weight one or two has vanishing overlap. Taking $u,v$ from $\{0,e_1,\dots ,e_7\}$ proves the displayed identity. The eight two-dimensional error images are orthogonal, so their projective measurement determines the error syndrome without revealing the logical state; applying the identified phase flip again recovers every code state. This proves nondegenerate quantum error-correcting code behaviour for the identity and all single-site phase flips, including their coherent linear span.

A color code places qubits on a three-colorable lattice and assigns X-type and Z-type stabilizers to each colored plaquette.

A string operator creates excitations at its endpoints. Multiplying by a successive segment moves an endpoint because the shared intermediate excitation is toggled twice.

The surface code is a topological stabilizer code whose electric and magnetic excitations are bosons with mutual-semion braiding.

Join $n$ spheres pole to pole and draw $m$ longitude edges on each sphere. Qubits on edges, two-edge face $Z$ stabilizers, and vertex $X$ stabilizers realize the concatenated phase-and-bit-flip repetition code. A pole-to-pole path has weight $n$, while a dual equatorial cut has weight $m$.

For independent bit flips, summing the probabilities of all error chains in one syndrome and logical class equals, up to a class-independent factor, the partition function of a random-bond Ising model. A reference error fixes bond signs and products of star stabilizers become Ising spin configurations.

On a cylinder with equal anyon-condensing boundaries, the two topological ground states split only through a virtual string implementing a logical operator. A perturbation of strength $h$ produces a splitting of order $J$ times a path-counting factor times $(|h|/J{)}^d$, where $d$ is the shortest supported logical-string length.

The toric code has commuting star and plaquette stabilizers. Its electric and magnetic excitations are bosons with mutual-semion statistics, and their fusion is a fermion.

The surface-code anyons are $1,e,m,f=e\times m$. They obey $e^2=m^2=f^2=1$; $e$ and $m$ are bosons with mutual full-braiding phase $-1$, while their composite $f$ is a fermion.