Abstract. The theory of quantum computation can be constructed from the abstract study of anyonic systems. In mathematical terms, these are unitary topological modular functors. They underlie the Jones polynomial and arise in Witten-Chern-Simons theory. The braiding and fusion of anyonic excitations in quantum Hall electron liquids and 2D-magnets are modeled by modular functors, opening a new possibility for the realization of quantum computers. The chief advantage of anyonic computation would be physical error correction: An error rate scaling like e−αℓ, where ℓ is a length scale, and α is some positive constant. In contrast, the “presumptive ” qubit-model of quantum computation, which repairs errors combinatorically, requires a fantastically low initial error rate (about 10−4) before computation can be stabilized. Quantum computation is a catch-all for several models of computation based on a theoretical ability to manufacture, manipulate and measure quantum states. In this context, there are three areas where remarkable algorithms have been found: searching a data base [15], abelian groups (factoring and discrete logarithm) [19],

A rather elementary family of local Hamiltonians H◦,ℓ,ℓ = 1,2,3,..., is described for a 2−dimensional quantum mechanical system of spin = 1 2 particles. On the torus, the ground state space G◦,ℓ is essentially infinite dimensional but may collapse under “perturbation ” to an anyonic system with a complete mathematical description: the quantum double of the SO(3)−Chern-Simons modular functor at q = e 2πi/ℓ+2 which we call DEℓ. The Hamiltonian H◦,ℓ defines a quantum loop gas. We argue that for ℓ = 1 and 2, G◦,ℓ is unstable and the collapse to Gǫ,ℓ ∼ = DEℓ can occur truly by perturbation. For ℓ ≥ 3 G◦,ℓ is stable and in this case finding Gǫ,ℓ ∼ = DEℓ must require either ǫ> ǫℓ> 0, help from finite system size, surface roughening (see section 3), or some other trick, hence the initial use of quotes “ ”. A hypothetical phase diagram is included in the introduction. The effect of perturbation is studied algebraically: the ground state G◦,ℓ of H◦,ℓ is described as a surface algebra and our ansatz is that perturbation should respect this structure yielding a perturbed ground state Gǫ,ℓ described by a quotient algebra. By classification, this implies Gǫ,ℓ ∼ = DEℓ. The fundamental point is that nonlinear structures

We analyze relationships between the Jones polynomial and quantum computation. First, we present two polynomial-time quantum algorithms which give additive approximations of the Jones polynomial, in the sense of Bordewich, Freedman, Lovász and Welsh, of any link obtained from a certain general family of closures of braids, evaluated at any primitive root of unity. This family encompasses the well-known plat and trace closures, generalizing results recently obtained by Aharonov, Jones and Landau. We base our algorithms on a local qubit implementation of the unitary Jones-Wenzl representations of the braid group which makes the underlying representation theory apparent, allowing us to provide an algorithm for approximating the HOMFLYPT two-variable polynomial of the trace closure of a braid at certain pairs of values as well. Next, we provide a self-contained proof that any quantum computation can be replaced by an additive approximation of the Jones polynomial, evaluated at almost any primitive root of unity. This theorem was originally proved by Freedman, Larsen and Wang in the context of topological quantum computation, and the necessary notion of approximation was later provided by Bordewich et al. Our proof is simpler as it uses a more natural encoding of two-qubit unitaries into the rectangular representation of the eight-strand braid group. We then give QCMA-complete and PSPACE-complete problems which are based on braids. Finally, we conclude with direct proofs that evaluating the Jones polynomial of the plat closure at most primitive roots of unity is a #P-hard problem, while learning its most significant bit is PP-hard, without taking the usual route through the Tutte polynomial and graph coloring. 1

Abstract. We investigate a family of (reducible) representations of the braid groups Bn corresponding to a specific solution to the Yang-Baxter equation. The images of Bn under these representations are finite groups, and we identify them precisely as extensions of extraspecial 2-groups. The decompositions of the representations into their irreducible constituents are determined, which allows us to relate them to the well-known Jones representations of Bn factoring over Temperley-Lieb algebras and the corresponding link invariants. 1.

Abstract. We classify all unitary modular tensor categories (UMTCs) of rank ≤ 4. There are a total of 35 UMTCs of rank ≤ 4 up to ribbon tensor equivalence. Since the distinction between the modular S-matrix S and −S has both topological and physical significance, so in our convention there are a total of 70 UMTCs of rank ≤ 4. In particular, there are two trivial UMTCs with S = (±1). Each such UMTC can be obtained from 10 non-trivial prime UMTCs by direct product, and some symmetry operations. Explicit data of the 10 non-trivial prime UMTCs are given in Section 5. Relevance of UMTCs to topological quantum computation and various conjectures are given in Section 6. 1.

Modular tensor categories are generalizations of the representation categories of quantum groups at roots of unity axiomatizing the properties necessary to produce 3-dimensional TQFTs. Although other constructions have since been found, quantum groups remain the most prolific source. Recently proposed applications to quantum computing have provided an impetus to understand and describe these examples as explicitly as possible, especially those that are “physically feasible.” We survey the current status of the problem of producing unitary modular tensor categories from quantum groups, emphasizing explicit computations.

Contents Topological quantum computation has recently emerged as one of the most exciting approaches to constructing a fault-tolerant quantum computer. The proposal relies on the existence of topological states of matter whose quasiparticle excitations are neither bosons nor fermions, but are particles known as Non-Abelian anyons, meaning that they obey non-Abelian braiding statistics. Quantum information is stored in states with multiple quasiparticles,

Abstract. We introduce a finiteness property for braided fusion categories, describe a conjecture that would characterize categories possessing this, and verify the conjecture in a number of important cases. In particular we say a category has property F if the associated braid group representations factor over a finite group, and suggest that categories of integral Frobenius-Perron dimension are precisely those with property F. 1.

Abstract. We study the unitarizability of premodular categories constructed from representations of quantum group at roots of unity. We introduce Grothendieck unitarizability as a natural generalization of unitarizability to any class of premodular categories with a common Grothendieck semiring. We obtain new results for quantum groups of Lie types F4 and G2, and improve the known results for Lie types B and C.

We will explore the experimental observation that on the set of knots with bounded crossing number, algebraically independent Vassiliev invariants become correlated, as noticed first by S. Willerton. We will see this through the value distribution of the Jones polynomial at roots of unit. As the degree of the roots of unit is getting larger, the higher order fluctuation is diminishing and a more organized shape will emerge from a rather random value distribution of the Jones polynomial. We call such a phenomenon "quantum morphing". Evaluations of the Jones polynomial at roots of unity play a crucial role, for example in the volume conjecture.