The universal categorical spectrum conjecture for topological stabilizer codes

Let TS\mathbf{TS}^* be a proposed categorical spectrum of topological stabilizer codes, with TSn\mathbf{TS}^n its degree-nn component, and let Q(pt)\mathbf Q^*(\mathrm{pt}) denote the unitary QCA spectrum at a point. Write CatSp\mathbf{CatSp} for the category of categorical spectra and ComAlg\mathbf{ComAlg} for commutative algebra objects. Universal categorical spectrum conjecture. There is a categorical spectrum of topological stabilizer codes TS\mathbf{TS}^* such that

TSn1ΩTSn\mathbf{TS}^{n-1}\cong\Omega\mathbf{TS}^n

for all n1n\geq 1, whose core is Q(pt)\mathbf Q^*(\mathrm{pt}), and such that for every other categorical spectrum C\mathbf C^* there is a natural-in-C\mathbf C isomorphism

π0homCatSp(C,TS)=homComAlg(C0,Q0(pt)).\pi_0\operatorname{hom}_{\mathbf{CatSp}}(\mathbf C^*,\mathbf{TS}^*)=\operatorname{hom}_{\mathbf{ComAlg}}(\mathbf C^0,\mathbf Q^0(\mathrm{pt})).

This conjecture seeks a universal target category for topological stabilizer codes whose invertible part recovers the QCA spectrum. The proposed universal property would organize stabilizer codes in all dimensions and relate their bulk-boundary structure to the classification of QCAs.

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Bowen Yang and Matthew Yu, “The Classification of Pauli Stabilizer Codes: A Lattice and Continuum Treatise”, arXiv:2604.24847 (2026).

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