Diffusive Speed Limits for U(1)-Covariant Quantum Error Correction

Abstract

Fast preparation of quantum error-correcting codes is essential for scalable quantum memories, but geometric locality and $U(1)$ charge conservation impose an unavoidable transport constraint. We combine exact complementary-channel geometry, charge-sector Haar analysis, and a gate-resolved connected-moment expansion to study one-dimensional covariant encoders under flagged erasure. Charge-Haar codes attain the universal adjacent-charge lower bound up to exponentially small corrections, yielding an exact $n^{-1/2}$ extensive-erasure law and a sharp half-erasure transition. For local number-conserving brickwork circuits, diffusion of the logical charge enforces an $Ω(n^2)$ encoding-time lower bound; we also prove an $O(n^3)$ mixing bound for the classical component and reduce the remaining full-channel upper bound to a source-restricted low-support operator-spreading problem. These results identify diffusion as an operational limit on symmetry-constrained quantum coding and establish a route to its exact formation time.