Non-Clifford quantum cellular automata from invertible topological quantum field theories

arXiv:2607.21697v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Quantum cellular automata (QCAs) describe locality-preserving quantum dynamics and connect quantum information, many-body physics, and topological quantum field theory (TQFT). Constructing a QCA from a TQFT, however, is challenging. Although a topological action can produce a commuting Hamiltonian realizing the desired ground state, it does not by itself specify an automorphism of the full local operator algebra. In this work, we develop a unified algebraic construction that extends the commuting generators of the Hamiltonian to a complete separator-flipper algebra on the full tensor-product Hilbert space, providing a microscopic definition of the corresponding QCA. In three spatial dimensions, our formalism unifies all previously known QCA constructions associated with the $\mathbb Z_8\times\mathbb Z_2$ subgroup of the Witt group, including the $U(1)_2$ and $U(1)_4$ QCAs. The same algebraic structure directly yields new infinite families of generalized $U(1)_2$ and $U(1)_4$ non-Clifford QCAs in dimensions $d=4k-1$. We also reformulate the 4-dimensional $w_2w_3$ QCA and use it to develop a general construction of QCAs from TQFTs associated with arbitrary products of Wu classes. This construction includes two infinite families. The first consists of $w_2^nw_3^m$ QCAs in dimension $d=2n+3m-1$, while the second consists of $w_2w_{4k-1}$ QCAs in dimension $d=4k$. As a contrasting result, we explicitly construct finite-depth quantum circuits for the 5-dimensional $w_3^2$ and $w_2^3$ QCAs, thereby proving that they are trivial, in agreement with the cobordism classification. Overall, these results convert invertible TQFTs into microscopic QCAs, provide a scalable route to higher-dimensional constructions beyond the Clifford setting, and open a systematic approach to classifying their stable structures and boundary anomalies.

Abstract:Quantum cellular automata (QCAs) describe locality-preserving quantum dynamics and connect quantum information, many-body physics, and topological quantum field theory (TQFT). Constructing a QCA from a TQFT, however, is challenging. Although a topological action can produce a commuting Hamiltonian realizing the desired ground state, it does not by itself specify an automorphism of the full local operator algebra. In this work, we develop a unified algebraic construction that extends the commuting generators of the Hamiltonian to a complete separator-flipper algebra on the full tensor-product Hilbert space, providing a microscopic definition of the corresponding QCA. In three spatial dimensions, our formalism unifies all previously known QCA constructions associated with the $\mathbb Z_8\times\mathbb Z_2$ subgroup of the Witt group, including the $U(1)_2$ and $U(1)_4$ QCAs. The same algebraic structure directly yields new infinite families of generalized $U(1)_2$ and $U(1)_4$ non-Clifford QCAs in dimensions $d=4k-1$. We also reformulate the 4-dimensional $w_2w_3$ QCA and use it to develop a general construction of QCAs from TQFTs associated with arbitrary products of Wu classes. This construction includes two infinite families. The first consists of $w_2^nw_3^m$ QCAs in dimension $d=2n+3m-1$, while the second consists of $w_2w_{4k-1}$ QCAs in dimension $d=4k$. As a contrasting result, we explicitly construct finite-depth quantum circuits for the 5-dimensional $w_3^2$ and $w_2^3$ QCAs, thereby proving that they are trivial, in agreement with the cobordism classification. Overall, these results convert invertible TQFTs into microscopic QCAs, provide a scalable route to higher-dimensional constructions beyond the Clifford setting, and open a systematic approach to classifying their stable structures and boundary anomalies.

Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el); High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th); Mathematical Physics (math-ph); Quantum Algebra (math.QA)

arXiv:2607.21697 [quant-ph]

(or arXiv:2607.21697v1 [quant-ph] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2607.21697 arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

aiqbench analysis

Non-Clifford quantum cellular automata from invertible topological quantum field theories

Related coverage