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Exact $\mathbb{Z}_2$ electromagnetic duality of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ toric code is non-Clifford

Strongly Correlated Electrons 2026-04-01 v2 High Energy Physics - Theory Quantum Physics

Abstract

The 2D Z2\mathbb{Z}_2 toric code admits a global symmetry exchanging electric and magnetic quasiparticles, known as electromagnetic duality. Known realizations include lattice translation symmetry, an exact Z4\mathbb{Z}_4 symmetry generated by a Clifford circuit, and an exact Z2\mathbb{Z}_2 symmetry generated by a non-Clifford circuit. We show that a Clifford electromagnetic duality cannot realize an exact internal Z2\mathbb{Z}_2 symmetry. This is proved rigorously for symmetries with coarse translation invariance by ll lattice units for generic odd ll. Therefore an exact internal Z2\mathbb{Z}_2 electromagnetic duality must be non-Clifford, whereas generic internal Clifford realization necessarily has Z2m\mathbb{Z}_{2^m} algebra with m2m\ge 2. Our result suggests an unexpected connection between the algebra of exact electromagnetic duality and Clifford hierarchy of circuits.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.28230,
  title  = {Exact $\mathbb{Z}_2$ electromagnetic duality of $\mathbb{Z}_2$ toric code is non-Clifford},
  author = {Ryohei Kobayashi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.28230},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

7 pages, 2 figures. Added a ref, minor edit