Scalable logical qubits

Abstract

Utility-scale quantum computing will require executing long, complex algorithms with end-to-end error rates far below what physical qubits can support directly. Error-corrected logical qubits are needed to achieve this goal. To make the progress on logical qubits measurable and comparable we introduce the definition of scalable logical qubits: logical qubits preserved for long computations by repeated quantum error correction, capable of fault-tolerant universal operations with low-latency real-time decoding and feedback, and replicable to the hundreds or thousands, as required by applications. We characterize these scalable logical qubits along four coupled dimensions: reliability, scale, capability, and performance, and discuss trade-offs among these dimensions.