Global estimates of errors in quantum computation by the Feynman–vernon formalism

Abstract

The operation of a quantum computer is considered as a general quantum operation on amixed state onmany qubits followed by a measurement. The general quantum operation is further represented as a Feynman–Vernon double path integral over the histories of the qubits and of an environment, and afterward tracing out the environment. The qubit histories are taken to be paths on the two-sphere S2 as in Klauder’s coherent-state path integral of spin, and the environment is assumed to consist of harmonic oscillators initially in thermal equilibrium, and linearly coupled to to qubit operators Ŝz. The environment can then be integrated out to give a Feynman–Vernon influence action coupling the forward and backward histories of the qubits. This representation allows to derive in a simple way estimates that the total error of operation of a quantum computer without error correction scales linearly with the number of qubits and the time of operation. It also allows to discuss Kitaev’s toric code interacting with an environment in the same manner.