Nonlocal Topological Maxwell Demon Teleporting Ergotropy via Surface-Code Quantum Error Correction

Abstract

Surface-code quantum error correction has recently achieved logical error rates below the physical threshold on superconducting processors, establishing topologically ordered states as experimentally accessible resources. Whether these resources can support thermodynamic operations beyond fault-tolerant computation remains open. We introduce a nonlocal Maxwell demon protocol that transfers ergotropy between spatially separated quantum batteries using only local operations and classical communication over a shared surface code. Alice expends ergotropy to encode a logical qubit and transmits a classical syndrome record to Bob, who decodes via minimum-weight perfect matching and conditionally charges his battery, with no direct energy exchange across the channel. Active syndrome monitoring exponentially suppresses logical errors below the topological threshold $p_{\rm th} \approx 0.013$, converting physical qubits directly into recoverable ergotropy. For finite-size codes at distance $L = 7$, net extracted work changes sign at a thermodynamic critical error rate $p_c \approx 0.014 > p_{\rm th}$, a physically significant finite-size effect relevant to near-term devices. Causality enforces an irreducible quadratic infrastructure cost $W_{\rm bulk} \propto N^2$, strictly satisfying the second law at all separations and defining a fundamental thermodynamic horizon $N_{\rm max} \approx 78$ beyond which positive net work extraction is impossible regardless of code distance or decoder quality.