verified certificate script asserted: CERTIFIED chi(cat_3) >= 2, by an argument declared exact throughout (no floating-point margin)
χ(cat_3) ≥ 2: |cat3〉 = (|000〉 + i(|011〉 + |101〉 + |110〉))/2 is not a stabilizer state. Qassim, Pashayan, and Gosset (arXiv:2106.07740, appendix) show it through the Pauli spectrum, 〈cat_3|XXI|cat3〉 = 1/2; the certificate decides the same fact in integer arithmetic on the exact amplitudes: the support is the affine subspace of even-weight strings, but the phase i^{|x|/2} on it is not a Z4 quadratic form with even cross terms (at x = 011, x' = 101 the ratio f(x + x') f(0)/(f(x) f(x')) is -i). With bounds/cat-m3-upper-2.json the cell is exact, χ(cat_3) = 2, as in their Table 1.
this repository · stabrank verify_challenge · exact: the state is not a stabilizer state (its phase on the even-weight strings is not a Z4 quadratic form)
{
"schema_version": "0.1",
"orbit": "cat",
"m": 3,
"direction": "lower",
"rank": 2,
"certificate": {
"script": "verify_challenge/cert_family_rank1.py",
"exact": true,
"expect": "CERTIFIED chi(cat_3) >= 2"
},
"provenance": {
"author": "this repository",
"reference": "stabrank verify_challenge",
"date": "2026-09-24",
"github": [
"vprusso"
],
"method": "exact: the state is not a stabilizer state (its phase on the even-weight strings is not a Z_4 quadratic form)"
},
"notes": "chi(cat_3) >= 2: |cat_3> = (|000> + i(|011> + |101> + |110>))/2 is not a stabilizer state. Qassim, Pashayan, and Gosset (arXiv:2106.07740, appendix) show it through the Pauli spectrum, <cat_3|XXI|cat_3> = 1/2; the certificate decides the same fact in integer arithmetic on the exact amplitudes: the support is the affine subspace of even-weight strings, but the phase i^{|x|/2} on it is not a Z_4 quadratic form with even cross terms (at x = 011, x' = 101 the ratio f(x + x') f(0)/(f(x) f(x')) is -i). With bounds/cat-m3-upper-2.json the cell is exact, chi(cat_3) = 2, as in their Table 1."
}