Gauge Color Codes: Optimal Transversal Gates and Gauge Fixing in Topological Stabilizer Codes

Abstract: Color codes are topological stabilizer codes with unusual transversality properties. Here I show that their group of transversal gates is optimal and only depends on the spatial dimension, not the local geometry. I also introduce a generalized, subsystem version of color codes. In 3D they allow the transversal implementation of a universal set of gates by gauge fixing, while error-detecting measurements involve only 4 or 6 qubits.