Single-shot error correction of three-dimensional homological product codes

Single-shot error correction corrects data noise using only a single round of noisy measurements on the data qubits, removing the need for intensive measurement repetition. We introduce a general concept of confinement for quantum codes, which roughly stipulates qubit errors cannot grow without triggering more measurement syndromes. We prove confinement is sufficient for single-shot decoding of adversarial errors. Further to this, we prove that all three-dimensional homological product codes exhibit confinement in their $X$-components and are therefore single-shot for adversarial phase-flip noise. For stochastic phase-flip noise, we numerically explore these codes and again find evidence of single-shot protection. Our Monte-Carlo simulations indicate sustainable thresholds of $3.08(4)\%$ and $2.90(2)\%$ for 3D surface and toric codes respectively, the highest observed single-shot thresholds to date. To demonstrate single-shot error correction beyond the class of topological codes, we also run simulations on a randomly constructed 3D homological product code.

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