The equivalence of quantum deletion and insertion errors on permutation-invariant codes

Quantum synchronisation errors are a class of errors that change the number of qubits in a quantum system. The classical error correction of synchronisation errors has been well-studied, including an insertion-deletion equivalence more than a half-century ago, but little progress has been made towards the quantum counterpart since the birth of quantum error correction. We address the longstanding problem of a quantum insertion-deletion equivalence on permutation-invariant codes, detailing the conditions under which such codes are t -insertion error-correctable. We extend these conditions to quantum insertion-deletion errors, formulating a more restrictive set of conditions under which permutation-invariant codes are ( t , s )-insdel error-correctable. For completeness, we extend our approach to qudit errors on qudit permutation-invariant codes. Our work resolves many of the outstanding questions regarding the quantum error correction of synchronisation errors.