Quantum Error Correction in the Zeno Regime

Abstract

In order to reduce errors, error correction codes (ECCs) need to be implemented fast. They can correct the errors corresponding to the first few orders in the Taylor expansion of the Hamiltonian of the interaction with the environment. If implemented fast enough, the zeroth order error predominates and the dominant effect is of error prevention by measurement (Zeno Effect) rather than correction. In this ``Zeno Regime'', codes with less redundancy are sufficient for protection. We describe such a simple scheme, which uses two ``noiseless'' qubits to protect a large number, $n$, of information qubits from noise from the environment. The ``noisless qubits'' can be realized by treating them as logical qubits to be encoded by one of the previously introduced encoding schemes.