Homotopy Classification of loops of Clifford unitaries

Abstract: Clifford quantum circuits are elementary invertible transformations of quantum systems that map Pauli operators to Pauli operators. We study periodic one-parameter families of Clifford circuits, called loops of Clifford circuits, acting on $\mathsf{d}$-dimensional lattices of prime $p$-dimensional qudits. We propose to use the notion of algebraic homotopy to identify topologically equivalent loops. We calculate homotopy classes of such loops for any odd $p$ and $\mathsf{d}=0,1,2,3$, and $4$. Our main tool is the Hermitian K-theory, particularly a generalization of the Maslov index from symplectic geometry. We observe that the homotopy classes of loops of Clifford circuits in $(\mathsf{d}+1)$-dimensions coincide with the quotient of the group of Clifford Quantum Cellular Automata modulo shallow circuits and lattice translations in $\mathsf{d}$-dimensions.