Trapping Sets of Quantum LDPC Codes

Iterative decoders for finite length quantum low-density parity-check (QLDPC) codes are attractive because their hardware complexity scales only linearly with the number of physical qubits. However, they are impacted by short cycles, detrimental graphical configurations known as trapping sets (TSs) present in a code graph as well as symmetric degeneracy of errors. These factors significantly degrade the decoder decoding probability performance and cause so-called error floor. In this paper, we establish a systematic methodology by which one can identify and classify quantum trapping sets (QTSs) according to their topological structure and decoder used. The conventional definition of a TS from classical error correction is generalized to address the syndrome decoding scenario for QLDPC codes. We show that the knowledge of QTSs can be used to design better QLDPC codes and decoders. Frame error rate improvements of two orders of magnitude in the error floor regime are demonstrated for some practical finite-length QLDPC codes without requiring any post-processing.

Low-complexity decoding of LDPC codes using reduced-set WBF-based algorithms

We propose a method to substantially reduce the computational complexity of iterative decoders of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes which are based on the weighted bit-flipping (WBF) algorithm. In this method, the WBF-based decoders are modified so that the flipping function is calculated only over a reduced set of variable nodes. An explicit expression for the achieved complexity gain is provided and it is shown that for a code of block length N, the decoding complexity is reduced from O(N2) to O(N). Moreover, we derive an upper bound for the difference in the frame error rate of the reduced-set decoders and the original WBF-based decoders, and it is shown that the error performances of the two decoders are essentially the same.