Engineering autonomous error correction in stabilizer codes at finite temperature

Abstract

We present an error correcting protocol that enhances the lifetime of stabilizer code based qubits which are susceptible to the creation of pairs of localized defects (due to string-like error operators) at finite temperature, such as the toric code. The primary tool employed is dynamic application of a local, unitary operator which exchanges defects and thereby translates localized excitations. Crucially, the protocol does not require any measurements of stabilizer operators, and therefore can be used to enhance the lifetime of a qubit in the absence of such experimental resources.