Non-linear Sigma Model for the Surface Code with Coherent Errors

The surface code is a promising platform for a quantum memory, but its threshold under coherent errors remains incompletely understood. We study maximum-likelihood decoding of the square-lattice surface code in the presence of single-qubit unitary rotations that create electric anyon excitations. We microscopically derive a non-linear sigma model with target space $\mathrm{SO}(2n)/\mathrm{U}(n)$ as the effective long-distance theory of this decoding problem, with distinct replica limits: $n\to1$ for optimal decoding, which assumes knowledge of the coherent rotation angle, and $n\to0$ for suboptimal decoding with imperfect angle information. This exposes a sharp distinction between the two decoders. The suboptimal decoder supports a "thermal-metal" phase, a non-decodable regime that is qualitatively distinct from the conventional non-decodable phase of the surface code under incoherent Pauli errors. By contrast, the metal phase cannot arise in optimal decoding, since the metallic fixed-point becomes unstable in the $n\to 1$ replica limit. We argue that optimal decoding may be possible up to the maximally-coherent rotation angle. Within the sigma model description, we show that the decoding fidelity is related to twist defects of the order-parameter field, yielding quantitative predictions for its system-size dependence near the metallic fixed point for both decoders. We examine our analytic predictions for the decoding fidelity as well as other physical observables with extensive numerical simulations. We discuss how the symmetries and the target space for the sigma model rely on the lattice of the surface code, and how a stable thermal metal phase can arise in optimal decoding when the syndromes reside on a non-bipartite lattice.