Decoupling 2D translation-invariant topological CSS codes

Abstract

Two-dimensional translation-invariant topological CSS codes on qubits are known to be locally equivalent, after coarse-graining, to stacks of toric codes. However, existing constructions generally break more translation symmetry than is required to remove anyon-permuting translations, leaving open whether any further obstruction exists. We prove that no such obstruction occurs: after passing to the maximal anyon-preserving superlattice, every such code admits a local unitary decoupling into toric codes and product states. We further provide an efficient algorithm for explicitly constructing the decoupling map, together with bounds on the required supercell size and operator spreading. The decoupling requires no additional ancillas in generic cases and extends to finite systems with suitable boundary conditions.