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We consider Abelian topological quantum field theories (TQFTs) in 3D and show that gaugings of invertible global symmetries naturally give rise to additive codes. These codes emerge as nonanomalous subgroups of the 1-form symmetry group, parametrizing the fusion rules of condensable TQFT anyons. The boundary theories dual to TQFTs with a maximal symmetry subgroup gauged, i.e., with the corresponding anyons condensed, are “code” conformal field theories (CFTs). This observation bridges together, in the holographic sense, results on 1-form symmetries of 3D TQFTs with developments connecting codes to 2D CFTs. Building on this relationship, we proceed to consider the ensemble of maximal gaugings (topological boundary conditions) in a general, not necessarily Abelian 3D TQFT, and propose that the resulting ensemble of boundary CFTs has a holographic description as a gravitational theory: the bulk TQFT summed over topologies. 

We outline a general derivation of holographic duality between “TQFT gravity” — the path integral of a 3d TQFT summed over different topologies — and an ensemble of boundary 2d CFTs. The key idea is to place the boundary ensemble on a Riemann surface of very high genus, where the duality trivializes. The duality relation at finite genus is then obtained by genus reduction. Our derivation is generic and does not rely on an explicit form of the bulk or boundary partition functions. It guarantees unitarity and suggests that the bulk sum should include all possible topologies. In the case of Abelian Chern-Simons theory with compact gauge group we argue that the weights of the boundary ensemble are equal, while the bulk sum reduces to a finite sum over equivalence classes of topologies, represented by handlebodies with possible line defects. 

A<sc>bstract</sc> We provide a precise relation between an ensemble of Narain conformal field theories (CFTs) with central chargec=n, and a sum of (U(1) × U(1))ⁿChern-Simons theories on different handlebody topologies. We begin by reviewing the general relation of additive codes to Narain CFTs. Then we describe a holographic duality between any given Narain theory and a pure Chern-Simons theory on a handlebody manifold. We proceed to consider an ensemble of Narain theories, defined in terms of an ensemble of codes of lengthnoverℤ_k × ℤ_kfor primek. We show that averaging over this ensemble is holographically dual to a level-k(U(1) × U(1))ⁿChern-Simons theory, summed over a finite number of inequivalent classes of handlebody topologies. In the limit of largekthe ensemble approaches the ensemble of all Narain theories, and its bulk dual becomes equivalent to “U(1)-gravity” — the sum of the pertubative part of the Chern-Simons wavefunction over all possible handlebodies — providing a bulk microscopic definition for this theory. Finally, we reformulate the sum over handlebodies in terms of Hecke operators, paving the way for generalizations. 

A bstract We discuss the holographic description of Narain U(1) c × U(1) c conformal field theories, and their potential similarity to conventional weakly coupled gravitational theories in the bulk, in the sense that the effective IR bulk description includes “U(1) gravity” amended with additional light degrees of freedom. Starting from this picture, we formulate the hypothesis that in the large central charge limit the density of states of any Narain theory is bounded by below by the density of states of U(1) gravity. This immediately implies that the maximal value of the spectral gap for primary fields is ∆ 1 = c /(2 πe ). To test the self-consistency of this proposal, we study its implications using chiral lattice CFTs and CFTs based on quantum stabilizer codes. First we notice that the conjecture yields a new bound on quantum stabilizer codes, which is compatible with previously known bounds in the literature. We proceed to discuss the variance of the density of states, which for consistency must be vanishingly small in the large- c limit. We consider ensembles of code and chiral theories and show that in both cases the density variance is exponentially small in the central charge. 

A bstract There is a rich connection between classical error-correcting codes, Euclidean lattices, and chiral conformal field theories. Here we show that quantum error-correcting codes, those of the stabilizer type, are related to Lorentzian lattices and non-chiral CFTs. More specifically, real self-dual stabilizer codes can be associated with even self-dual Lorentzian lattices, and thus define Narain CFTs. We dub the resulting theories code CFTs and study their properties. T-duality transformations of a code CFT, at the level of the underlying code, reduce to code equivalences. By means of such equivalences, any stabilizer code can be reduced to a graph code. We can therefore represent code CFTs by graphs. We study code CFTs with small central charge c = n ≤ 12, and find many interesting examples. Among them is a non-chiral E 8 theory, which is based on the root lattice of E 8 understood as an even self-dual Lorentzian lattice. By analyzing all graphs with n ≤ 8 nodes we find many pairs and triples of physically distinct isospectral theories. We also construct numerous modular invariant functions satisfying all the basic properties expected of the CFT partition function, yet which are not partition functions of any known CFTs. We consider the ensemble average over all code theories, calculate the corresponding partition function, and discuss its possible holographic interpretation. The paper is written in a self-contained manner, and includes an extensive pedagogical introduction and many explicit examples.