How Often Must We Apply Syndrome Measurements?

Quantum error correction requires encoding quantum information into a quantum error correction code and measuring error syndromes to detect and identify possible errors. Quantum fault tolerance typically assumes that syndrome measurements are applied after every logical gate at great expense both in time and number of qubits. Here we demonstrate that not only is this not necessary, but that we may achieve greater accuracy when applying syndrome measurements less often. Our simulations are performed within the [[7,1,3]] quantum error correction code but may be applicable to a broad range of codes.